Scorpion's Masterpiece
by Knightmare Gundam of Ni
Summary: Fan Sequel to Scorpion's Disciple. Three years have passed, and life in Konoha has returned to normal. However, just off the coast of the Land of Fire, Naruto has become something more than human, and has plans for Konoha.
1. Prologue

Scorpion's Masterpiece

Prologue  
><em>Eternal Beauty<em>

The cave was moderately lit, with electric lamps powered by a gas generator and modest creature comforts. Nothing too extravagant, but not Spartan at all either. It was small, located out in the middle of the island that formed the devastated nation of Uzu no Kuni, the Land of Whirlpools, once home to Uzushiogakure no Sato, the Village Hidden among the Whirling Tides. Sasori could appreciate the symbolism of bringing his disciple here for the operation, where his clan once resided. After all, he was an artist. And where better to perform a massively complex sealing operation than the land that gave birth to the most powerful and feared of fuinjutsu practitioners?

It hadn't been at all hard to figure out the origins of his Magnum Opus. After the once-petulant brat had caught his attention, Sasori had instantly recognized his name as belonging to the Land of Whirlpools' most prominent ninja clan, and Kabuto, his ever-loyal agent, had located the records of a kunoichi with the same surname that matched up perfectly well, even her death perfectly corresponding with the birth-date of his disciple. There was no concrete evidence as to the father, but Sasori had his suspicions, based off of his disciple's own features. Sasori had informed his disciple of his known background upon their arrival in the Land, and had been pleased to see how his student kept a tight rein on his emotions, despite the shocking nature of the information.

At any rate, it was time to begin. Sasori had spent three years with his pupil, working through the massively complex seal array and surgery that this operation required. With Kabuto standing by to assist in surgery and provide aid in case of a medical emergency that was beyond the immediate capabilities of the second 'assistant', it had a moderately good chance of success. Alternatively, the entire operation could fail drastically: the surgical operations required the opening of the chest and cracking of the ribcage in order to attach the implants, with massive alterations to the subject's internal organs and especially his cardiovascular and nervous systems, even as seals were carved into his ribs and sternum. And after that, they would have to carefully remove his eyeballs in order to inscribe certain arrays into his sockets, and then reinsert them. Worse, due to the requirements, this all had to happen completely without anesthetic, as Sasori's disciple had to have a clear mind in order to properly adjust his chakra flow. Thankfully, retreating into his mindscape would spare the subject the worst of the pain.

Afterwards, following Kabuto closing and healing the ribcage and chest, Sasori would begin inscribing the seal array. This array was, in and of itself, a vastly complicated work, using everything from sweeping broad lines to miniscule calligraphy in a massive conglomeration of lesser seals that combined into an enormous piece of art that was yet only a part of a whole. It included seals to store excess chakra, seals to absorb and reroute chakra, seals to control the force of gravity on the subject, seals to alter the cerebral flows of chakra many experienced genjutsu masters wouldn't dare touch, seals to enhance the senses, and a singularly massive array on the back. And each one had to connect to a number of tenketsu, as the controlling signalers in a vast network. The entire array would, as a whole, be connected to all of the three-hundred and sixty-one tenketsu on the disciple's body. The paint used was a highly expensive chakra-conductive metallic ink, which by itself had required the hunting of bounties, generally A-rank missing-nin, to pay for; mixed with a liter of the subject's blood that had been slowly gathered over the course of the three months since they'd arrived at the Land of Whirlpools. The combined effect would greatly enhance the performance of the seals when activated, but the ink itself carried another complication, being intended for use on houses and other, non-organic, items, it was rather toxic when wet. And then, in order to achieve the greatest effect, the tenketsu themselves would require direct exposure to the ink, which is why there was a large number of acupuncture needles soaking in a pan of it to the side. Kabuto would have to carefully, precisely insert them ahead of Sasori's inscribing, timing it just right so that the subject would get the correct amount of exposure and coating. Too little, and the array's performance would be compromised, but too much and it might actually endanger the subject. And then there was the storage array on the back, which the disciple insisted on having carved, and seared into his flesh, along with the ink.

And even if he survived the surgery, if they inscribed the array without inadvertently poisoning him, everything could go wrong when they actually _activated_ the seals. Any error, the slightest off-stroke of the brush, could result in a mistake that might tear apart the subject when they activated the array. Or might seem perfectly fine, until he tried to use one of the seals in a combat situation only for it to utterly fail, or worse, backfire explosively, or any other of a vast number of potential side-effects.

Sasori, after cataloguing the materials and ensuring the presence of all necessary tools, glanced at his disciple. The boy, who had grown taller than Sasori, was lying, completely nude; atop of a cot in turn set on a small stone dais Kabuto had raised using an Earth technique for the operation. He nodded.

And then they began. Unrolling a scroll, Sasori released the storage seal written on it, unsealing the freshly preserved corpse of one Kaguya Kimimaro, once Orochimaru's foremost servant and now donor for Sasori's greatest work. Both he and Kabuto started, scalpels cutting open their respective subject's torsos. The boy's face contorted into an excruciatingly pained grimace, before just barely relaxing as he retreated into his mindscape. Needing slightly less finesse than Kabuto, Sasori cut apart skin, muscle, and tendon before cracking open the ribcage and severing the Kaguya's heart from its nerves, veins and arteries, carefully retrieving the organ as Kabuto started opening the subject's ribcage. Sasori handed the heart to Kabuto as the med-nin started moving aside the subject's internals, as Sasori took his scalpel and carefully began carving seals directly into his disciple's ribcage, his smooth mechanical motions staying steady despite movement and avoiding interfering in Kabuto's work. The work was done quickly enough, Sasori stepping back to give Kabuto more room to cut nerves, veins and arteries and regenerate them in a way as to produce new connections for Kimimaro's heart to attach to. As soon as the heart was in place, Kabuto clicked the ribcage back together, green medical chakra flowing from his hands to delicately induce the cells to grow back together into a solid, coherent mass. Ligaments and tendons were reattached to the bones and muscles, and the flaps of skin were placed in their proper position, Kabuto healing the cuts back together with skill, leaving no hint behind of the massive surgery.

And then the work on the eyes began; precise incisions made on the eyelids that allowed Kabuto to simply pop the eyeballs out, neatly severing the nerves in a way that would allow him to reattach them perfectly well later on, as Sasori used a fine tool to engrave the seals into the sockets. That done, Kabuto replaced the eyes, healing them and the lids just as he had done with the chest. Now, it was time to inscribe the array. Kabuto reached for the acupuncture needles, plucking a few and beginning to insert them into the tenketsu, starting on the subject's right side, the closest to Sasori.

This part would have been infinitely more difficult if it weren't for the notes of one of the subject's past acquaintances, which while they had been more focused on repairing damage done to the tenketsu by Hyuuga Jyuuken strikes, allowed a reasonably skilled and experienced med-nin like Kabuto to more easily locate tenketsu, something only easily done with the Hyuuga's Byakugan. After forty-five seconds, Kabuto began removing as many needles as he placed, laying the used ones aside in a pan of water for cleaning. Sasori drew the brush out of the pot used as an inkwell, the mix of heavy metallic ink and his disciple's blood dripping for a moment before he began writing. Starting on a tenketsu on his student's right shoulder, Sasori drew out the intricate designs he'd helped develop in the depths of his disciple's mind, the nature of the mindscape giving them several hours for every one that passed in reality, more time to plan, to design, compensate and study that led to the masterpiece he was now creating.

His puppet body aided in this endeavor greatly. Without the chances of jitters or involuntary reactions to mess up his scribing, he was able to proceed more swiftly with the same degree of safety. That, combined with decades of scribing chakra thread anchors and control seals on his puppets, made the operation go much faster than it would otherwise, even keeping in mind the necessary time for the acupuncture needles to set. After an hour, the front of the disciple's torso and his arms was done, the red-black ink staying perfectly within the boundaries set by Sasori's brush, no running or drips to ruin the artistic masterpiece. Soon enough, the patterns spread to the head, forming networks of personality modulating, mental focusing and emotional suppressant seals, all set activated and deactivated at the will of the subject and fairly similar to the focusing seal Sasori had planted on his disciple four years ago. The boy hadn't been happy to learn about the parts of the seal that he hadn't been informed about, including the sexuality-suppressant, once the time to remove them for the operation had come. Similarly to his reaction to his past though, he was remarkably restrained.

Then, the work proceeded down, to his waist, Sasori studiously avoiding the stomach. He would deal with that area later, once the rest of the array was done.

The seal array continued to grow, around the subject's groin and down his legs, even to the soles of his feet before they were finished with the front. With that finished, they sat back and waited for the ink to dry, a half-hour, as Sasori rechecked the various component seals, and Kabuto monitored for any physiological disturbances, either from the heart transplant or the ink. After sufficient time passed, they flipped the subject over, and started working on his back. Acupuncture needles went in, and came out soon after, allowing Sasori to pass the brush over the bare flesh, drawing connections to the seals on the front, and leaving obvious connections to an as-yet nonexistent array in the middle of his disciple's back.

Soon enough, except for the large spot in the center, the back was finished, and Sasori laid the brush aside, drawing a small knife from the 'inkwell', soaked through with the ink. Calling up the design of this specific array, and how it fit into the big picture, Sasori made the first cut, connecting three tenketsu as he continued. Eventually, the overall shape of the array took form. Carved out of human hide, the array looked like eight fox tails running clockwise in a whirlpool, with a ninth and final tail curled up in the center as a facsimile of the Uzu Spiral that, to this day, was born on the backs of Konoha chunin and jonin. Once finished, Sasori took a scalpel, just as soaked in ink as the knife, and cut in the fine details that allowed the array to work properly. And then the time came to cauterize it. The sound of hissing, burning flesh filled the cavern, and Sasori was pleased to note that his disciple never once screamed.

The boy had very good discipline now.

Kabuto worked on the seal, healing any unnecessary burns and ensuring no complications. And then it was time for the final part. Flipping the subject onto his back again, Sasori retrieved the brush and started cautiously painting connections between the array and the Shiki Fuujin, the Dead Demon Consuming Seal. This was actually even more dangerous than the rest of the operation. Sasori had overlaid seals atop the legendary array, but had never before dared to try and alter it in the slightest. These alterations to connect it to the array were small gaps in the containment, that were Kyuubi to act now might become enormous gaping holes that allowed him to escape without consequence. If that happened, all of them were dead.

However, apparently Sasori's disciple had as good a rapport with the demon fox as he said, and the alteration proceeded without complication.

Now was the moment of truth. Kabuto stepped back, lacking the expertise to aid and getting far away enough that any possible malfunctions wouldn't claim his life.

"Seal!" Sasori intoned, feeling a powerful emotion as he pressed his hands atop the center of the array. The array light up with blue chakra that slowly turned purple as red youki was channeled into the array, illuminating the cave far more than the lamps had. The subject gritted his teeth, eyes closed tight in pain. Then, slowly, the glow faded, the markings of the array similarly disappearing into the boy's flesh.

Kabuto stepped forward again, diagnostic technique scanning the subject for any signs of complications, until he nodded to both Sasori and his disciple.

The boy swung his legs over the cot, hopping down and grabbing a medical gown laid next to it. Now robed, he stretched, checking for himself if everything was working normally.

"How do you feel?" Sasori asked, his voice steady and not event hinting at the anticipation roiling in his heart.

Uzumaki Naruto's blank, emotionless face turned to him, eyes opening to reveal dull, burnt-orange eyes with slit pupils.

– The Author –

Alright, and that, I judge, is a decent start to a story.

Now, I'm not exactly a fan of the Naruto anime and manga - it has a lot of good explosions and some items that truly interest me (Susano'o, among other things) and some philosophies I can get behind, I have troubles with it. For one thing, I hate Naruto's characterization. My taste in protagonists runs more towards Lelouch and Heero types.

So when I came across nobody102's _Scorpion's Disciple,_ I got caught up in it. It was...awesome. It evolved Naruto from the loud, idiotic, _petulant_ child he was into a cunning, secretive little fox that I just loved to read surprise and trounce others. Unfortunately for me and others, nobody102 couldn't finish it, but at least he left a very complete summary for us.

I, personally, just couldn't let it end there.

So, I contacted nobody102, got his blessing and advice, and wrote out the prologue you've just read. Now, those who've read my other stories are aware of my style, and it differs very much so from nobody102's, so there's definitely going to be differences in quality, whether good or bad or not, just to warn you.

_Scorpion's Masterpiece_ isn't going to update rapidly, maybe once a month or so, maybe quicker depending on my mood, since I'm writing other stories too, but I hope everyone can endure the waits.

Knightmare Gundam of Ni


	2. Chapter 1: Success

Scorpion's Masterpiece

Chapter 1  
><em>Success<em>

– Land of Whirlpools –

"Are you certain it's alright to let him go alone like this?" Was the question Kabuto posed to Sasori, hours after Naruto left, piloting a puppet-manned boat back to the Land of Fire.

"Yes. What's the use of making a masterpiece if no one sees it?" Sasori replied. "And besides, he has his plans." Kabuto couldn't help but chuckle in agreement.

"Konoha won't know what hit them."

"And in any case, this place will require some work to become a suitable base."

"Ah yes, Naruto-kun's charming little idea: Yūgure."

"I imagine it will be quite the surprise for Akatsuki."

– One Month Later, Konoha –

Sarutobi Hiruzen, Third Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, sighed, setting down the pen in his hand and rubbing his nose for a moment before glancing briefly out the window.

The invasion three years ago had been harsh on Konoha. While most, if not all of the civilian population had been evacuated to the shelters in time, many shinobi had fallen in defense of the city, significantly reducing their capability to produce revenue through missions, as most had been chunin suited for C- to A-rank missions, a valuable range that brought in the largest block percentage of money through a combined medium of quantity and quality of pay. Sure, jonin drew the higher-paying missions, but they were also numbered less than the chunin, and many of them were further involved in training genin teams.

Fortunately enough, there had been enough genin in circulation that proved themselves capable enough to be either field-promoted or participate in any one of the five Chunin Exams since and fill the gap.

At the moment, Sarutobi found himself wondering as to how five specific chunin were.

And the thought of them then turned his thoughts to one genin, gone for three long years, making the Hokage sigh as he returned to that most foul of evils, paperwork.

In a way, Sarutobi thought he'd failed Naruto. After all, it was due to his influence, disappointed in the jinchuuriki, that had driven the boy to seek teaching from everyone he could find, ranging from Anko…to the infamous missing-nin, Sasori of the Red Sands. And it was his negligence that had seen him completely overlook all the initial signs, until Kakashi had brought up Naruto's astonishing – and unsettling – growth, upon which he'd assigned Anko and her newly-promoted friend Kurenai to find out just where Naruto got his new skills.

Unfortunately, that assignment had practically failed before it had started. Naruto had proven to be paranoid, and perfectly justified given the circumstances, the pair completely unable to find any hint as to his mysterious instructors through indirect means, which had meant they needed to be more up-front in their search for information. From what Kurenai, and later Anko, reported, they had planned to ambush the blond immediately after the second phase of the Exam.

That had been trashed by both the appearance of Anko's old teacher, Orochimaru of the Sannin and Hiruzen's student, upon which she'd given chase and was literally beat into a coma; and the last-minute arrival of Naruto's team. And then was The Incident.

Sarutobi had trusted that Hyuuga Hiashi knew his daughter and nephew well enough when he'd made that deal to pair them off in the preliminaries, pitting Hyuuga Hinata of the Main House against Hyuuga Neji of the Branch House of the Hyuuga clan.

He'd been wrong. Oh, so wrong.

Rather than the weak wilting flower that Hiashi had thought her, Hinata had proven to be skilled in her own way, and Neji for all his genius, proved to be much less composed than Hiashi had supposed. Instead of being summarily trounced and in one move both give Hinata a wake-up call and appease Neji's anger for and hatred of the Main House, Hinata had stood up to Neji proudly, and the enraged genius had struck at her with a lethal blow to her heart, dealing a near-instantly fatal injury.

Having one Hyuuga slay another in the Exams was bad enough, but Hinata had been one of the closest friends of Naruto. Naruto, who was the container of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, most powerful of the Tailed Beasts. Naruto, who had proven to be far more capable than anyone had previously guessed, with med-nin training and a mastery of seals. Naruto, who was obviously furious and clearly intended to murder Neji, regardless of the consequences.

Put simply, it was a mess of enormous proportions, and Sarutobi had to take steps to ensure it was dealt with. First, by isolating Neji and Naruto from each other. Second, by sending Naruto far away on a halfway bogus mission to find and retrieve another of the Sannin, Tsunade, with Jiraiya, the last of the three, and Yakushi Kabuto, Naruto's tutor in medical techniques. He'd hoped Jiraiya would be able to drag the mission out long enough that the Chunin Exams would end before Naruto returned and had the chance to fight and kill Neji.

And then he'd received a message from Jiraiya, telling him that Orochimaru ambushed and attacked him and his team in a village a few days walking speed away from Konoha. Hiruzen had set out _immediately_, intending to deal with his traitorous student once and for all. When he'd arrived, the area was torn apart, with gouges and trenches carved into the earth, craters that were filled with water or frozen over in ice, and enormous scorch marks all over. And in the middle of it, was Orochimaru, standing with the resurrected corpses of the First and Second Hokages; facing off against Jiraiya and a strange red-headed boy with a dozen unsettlingly human puppets, one who resembled Zabuza, the Demon of the Bloody Mist, and one the Third Kazekage of Sunagakure.

Despite his curiosity, Hiruzen had focused on his old, traitorous student. A minute's banter was followed by a ferocious combat, wherein the redhead's puppets cornered and pinned the resurrected Hokages long enough for Jiraiya to tear the control talisman away from the First, and Hiruzen to remove the talisman from the Second, his own teacher. At that point, with Naruto and Kabuto joining in the battle, it had become blatantly obvious even to the prideful Orochimaru that he'd been outmatched, and the Sannin attempted to flee.

That had been roughly curtailed by everyone surrounding him, attacking from all angles, until a blow from Hiruzen finally forced Orochimaru into his true form: That of a Great White Serpent, composed of hundreds of smaller snakes, and topped by a grotesque facsimile of the Snake Sannin's face. Orochimaru had boasted of immortality. In response, Hiruzen and Jiraiya had sealed him into a sake jug, of all things.

That should have been the end of it. They should have celebrated their victory, and returned to Konoha.

But Hiruzen had to know who the puppeteer was. And when he'd turned to question him, he'd found the redhead joined by Kabuto, a puppet with a human head, the genin from Suna, and Naruto. Apparently, the look on Hiruzen's face sufficed as a question, and the apparent boy had explained that he was the one who'd taught Naruto much of what he knew, of seals and puppetry. And then, the boy had asked Naruto to desert Konoha, and join him!

There had been a brief moment, where Hiruzen had hoped he would hear the answer he hoped for. But, Naruto said yes.

A part of Hiruzen wasn't surprised, given how the council and other powers-that-be in Konoha had conspired to limit Naruto, even before he graduated from the academy. And the suspicion and mistrust that followed him after the incident with the Land of Waves…

Before they left, Naruto had told Hiruzen and Jiraiya of a method to heal Anko, and then they'd left, using a cloud of dust to cover their escape.

It was…quite a shock. Naruto, the boy Hiruzen had watched over since he was born, who he considered his second grandson…had deserted the Leaf.

It was almost like another Orochimaru.

And then, they'd returned to find Konoha in shambles. Orochimaru had planned for the invasion to completely destroy Konoha in his absence, with him dealing with both Jiraiya and Hiruzen. However, he hadn't counted on the experienced shinobi being perfectly capable of carrying out the appropriate measures in the absence of their Hokage. At that point, Hiruzen had been engulfed in the process of rebuilding the village and planning for the future. And then, after all the rush and hub-bub of reconstruction, he had to face the truth of Naruto's defection, and decide how to deal with it.

After hours of agonizing over the dilemma, in the end, he couldn't do it. He couldn't label Naruto, the boy who'd practically his second grandson, a traitor and missing-nin. Instead, he'd stated, officially, that Naruto had been sent on a three-year training trip with a special instructor, in order to better serve his village.

Part of it wasn't a lie.

But the three years were up now, and he hoped the five he'd chosen to go retrieve Naruto were ready. Because if they weren't…

Naruto could very well rip them to pieces.

– The Forest of Death –

The Forest of Death, a popular place for Konoha to hold the second portion of its hosted Chunin Exams and officially known as Training Ground 44 (more unofficially called, 'Oh Kami-Sama, my spleen!') was currently playing host to what sounded like the entire ANBU Demolitions Corps.

Really, it was five chunin, a special jonin, and one of the sannin.

Amid explosions from explosive tags, rigged wire-traps and time-detonated bombs, the five chunin of the Naruto Retrieval Team ducked and dodged around kunai, senbon, and ninjutsu techniques of many different varieties. The kunai came from Anko, and they knew from experience that the flying blades were liberally coated in any one of dozens of venomous cocktails, with some attached explosive tags for variety. The senbon and various ninjutsu came from Jiraiya.

This screwed up version of a general open combat exercise was intended to train the NRT against Naruto's style of warfare, the tricky, indirect kind that saw a person landing on a tree branch only for it to explode, or for them to trip over a series of cunningly concealed ninja wire-traps and fall into an open pit was provided by Anko, while Jiraiya generally threw in different kinds of ninjutsu, ranging from sweeping, slicing breezes to explosions of earth and stone that sent shrapnel careening through the forest. They had no idea just what kind of skills Naruto might pick up, so they had to be prepared for anything.

The one thing no one could simulate was Naruto's potential abilities as a jinchūriki. They had no idea what powers the Nine-Tails might give him, beyond his clearly enormous reserves of chakra.

Leading the five through their flight was Sasuke, dressed in standard shinobi-style pants with a kunai/shuriken pouch on the left leg, dark blue shirt under a chunin flak vest with a tanto sheathed on his back, the Sharingan's six tomoe spinning as he looked ahead, leading the team past the deadlier traps and dodging areas that would leave them more exposed to one of their instructors.  
>Just behind him was Kiba, wearing a black variant of his original outfit that replaced the coat with a leather form fitting black jacket, as one of the more close-combat focused members of the team that would engage any enemies that appeared in front; not to mention their best direct tracker with his now-large dog Akamaru at his side.<br>Behind him, in the middle of their traveling formation, were Ino and Sakura. One might think this to be sexist, placing the only two girls in the most protected position, but it was actually quite logical given their respective specialties. Sakura, as one who specialized in genjutsu and…unorthodox uses of ninjutsu, was placed third in line because her general style needed a bit of range, and line of sight, and perfectly positioned her to support Sasuke and Kiba. Her shoulder-length pink hair was done up in a ponytail, keeping it out of her eyes, and she wore a red sleeveless top with black gloves, boots, and shorts under a grey combat apron.  
>Ino, as one who had taken to Anko's tutelage well enough for it to be genuinely terrifying, was fourth in line so she could do as Anko did: unleash kunai dripping with many different poisons and toxins, or use her clan's Mind-Body Switch Technique on a given target, allowing her to control said target at the cost of her body being left inert and lifeless, requiring guarding. Fortunately, she hadn't completely taken after Anko: the only inspiration from her obscene tutor was the trenchcoat, the rest of her outfit was the same typical clothing she'd worn since the academy – minus the stomach wraps.<br>Which was why Shino took the rearguard position. Shino wore the typical Aburame clan fashion: A concealing green coat with a hood over a longer black coat with a large collar that obscured his lower face, sunglasses blocking view of his eyes. With his kikai bugs giving him a nearly unparalleled awareness and his strong taijutsu making him an effective combatant, even disregarding his use of his clan's kikai-centric techniques, he was a perfect choice, being able to simultaneously watch over Ino and Sakura and keep an eye out for anyone pursuing the team.

Like, say, an enormous ten-meter serpent with twelve-centimeter-long fangs that dripped with disturbing clear venom.

At times, Shino wondered whether this was truly to prepare them for any growth Naruto might have, or for Anko to take out her life-long frustrations and anger on them.

Then Sasuke made a quick hand-sign, informing the team of a trap ahead that they needed to avoid, before ducking under a branch and leaping to the side. The others followed his path perfectly, keeping to their formation even with the explosions, the kunai, and the snake. Soon, they passed over a river, just as they planned.

"Hidden Mist Technique." Sakura intoned, after rapidly going through a series of hand seals. The water in the river virtually exploded upward and puny droplets of liquid spread out over the area, covering it in a dense, chakra-laden mist. It was even thick and cold enough to throw off the snake's heat sensors.

And thus, with only minimal trouble provided by a small minefield, they made it to the tower.

"Well, that wasn't too hard." Sasuke commented off-handedly, leaning against the stone wall. Over the years since Naruto's defection, and the Invasion, he'd loosened up quite a bit, going from the stuck-up arrogant Uchiha to a rather more balanced, and experienced chunin of Konoha. He still had problems, and was still focused on killing his brother to an unhealthy degree, but everyone found him rather more agreeable now. While most of them had straightforward reasons for joining the NRT, Sasuke's reason was especially blunt: He wanted to fight Naruto. The Third had told them about the events surrounding Naruto's defection, including Jiraiya's account of 'Akatsuki', the group chasing jinchūriki and Naruto, whom his brother Itachi was a member of. Naruto, who was Itachi's target apparently, would serve as a good milestone to see how he was progressing in terms of power and ability, and how close he was to killing Itachi.

"It's still not as bad as anything Naruto put us through." Kiba said. As an Inuzuka, the pack was everything to Kiba – well, the pack and his position in it, but the point still stood. To an Inuzuka, betraying the pack was an unforgivable sin – and Naruto had done just that, and worse, he was Kiba's friend, which made the betrayal especially damning.

"I believe the objective difficulty of this exercise is higher than anything Naruto did three years ago." Shino intended to find Naruto, and drag him back to Konoha no matter what. They'd made a promise, to change Konoha for the better, and he'd be damned before he let Naruto forget it.

"He's probably gotten better at his traps though." Sakura mused absently. Her reason was the more complex of them. For some reason, she thought that she was responsible for Naruto's defection. Her early personality, as one of the many Uchiha fangirls, had been…rough, to say the least, and she'd never really given Naruto a chance as a team-mate and…as a friend, until it'd been too late.

"Doesn't matter." Ino declared. "We're bringing him back, one way or another." Ino, if anyone asked, just wanted one of her friends back, and save him from the consequences of his bad decisions. And then beat the crap out of him for leaving.

"Alright kiddies! Time to report back!" Anko shouted cheerfully as she entered the room. And then she became solemn. "The Hokage wants you in his office for the mission briefing."

– Hokage's Office –

"Jiraiya tells me you five have been doing exceptionally well." The Hokage began, addressing the NRT and their teachers.

"I'm glad to hear that Hokage-sama." Sakura said sourly. "Perhaps, though, we'd have advanced much faster if he'd stop ogling our other instructor." That was the cue for Anko to not-so-subtly knee the Toad Sage in the groin.

"Quite. At any rate, you know why you're here." The mood instantly took a drop into solemn. "It's been three years since Naruto defected. I hope that, after all this time, he's had time to cool down, and mature enough to reconsider his…hasty decision." The NRT as a whole looked determined, something Sarutobi considered a good thing.

"Alright brats," Jiraiya started, ducking under a kunai Ino threw at him, "We think we know where Naruto is, at the moment. There's been word in the mercenary community of a bounty hunter called the 'One-Man Orange Platoon'. Apparently, he's a puppeteer who paints his puppets in particularly garish shades of orange, and is effective enough to have accounted for around forty C- to A-class missing-nin bounties over the past year." That drew mixed reactions from the team. Sasuke looked somewhere between furious and eager. "Considering that Naruto was last seen in the company of Sasori of the Red Sands, among others, we think this mercenary is him."

"Not to mention the orange." Sakura muttered.

"Using reports of his movements, my spies have managed to pin his general location somewhere near the border between the Land of Grass and the Land of Fire. That's around one week's traveling time, depending on how fast we move."

"Remember, while you are to use any means to get him to return, this is _officially_ an escort mission." Hiruzen reminded them. "And don't let anyone else think otherwise." If anyone caught wind of what _actually_ happened with Naruto, someone might get word to the Fire Daimyo, and then all of Hiruzen's politicking would be for nothing: the Daimyo would unseat him, and Danzo had enough support amongst the council to get himself the Hokage hat.

And while Hiruzen respected Danzo both for his past accomplishments and his sacrifices, Konoha under his rule would see the Will of Fire extinguished.

"Alright brats, meet me at the northern gate in two hours." Jiraiya said, before hopping out the window. The group didn't move for a few long moments, everyone trapped in contemplation.

"I…I can barely believe it." Sakura whispered. "After three years…we're finally going after him."

"Yeah…let's go get him." Said Ino, determination apparent in her voice.

"Do not take this mission lightly." Shino admonished. "Naruto was a tricky and clever opponent, and not to offend Hokage-sama, but it's highly unlikely he'll want to return willingly, considering Neji." That drew a wince from everyone. "Naruto will more than likely fight our attempts to capture him with all his might, and considering his likely level of ability, we'll be hard-pressed to succeed. He's not just going to say 'sure, let's go'."

– One Week Later, Grass-Fire Border –

"Sure, let's go!" Naruto shouted, cheerful grin spread wide across his face.

The NRT stared.

They'd made quick time, traveling northwest from Konoha at their best speed, and reaching the border of the Land of Grass within five days.

Jiraiya underestimated just how motivated they were.

They'd spent a day searching along the border until Shino's kikai detected smoke – a lot of smoke that had soon enough become apparent in the smell of the air after moving towards the source.

And just like that, they found Naruto, in the middle of what looked like was once an encampment of a group of missing-nin sheltered in the midst of orange-leafed trees, but was now a blasted ruin marked by pieces of corpses and craters. There he was, standing in the middle of the carnage, the once-short genin now grown taller than Sakura, only a few centimeters shorter than Sasuke.

_I thought he stopped wearing stuff like that!_ Ino thought, glancing at the horrid jumpsuit he was wearing, black on the shoulders and down the center to the waist, but orange pretty much everywhere else. He had a pair of brown sandals, a kunai pouch belted to his right thigh, and his forehead protector (unscratched) was on a black headband that he tied around his head, loose ends fluttering freely.

In short, it was as though he'd regressed back to the little kid he was before he changed, just bigger!

"W-wait, what?" Kiba gaped. "That's it?"

"Well, yeah." Naruto at least had the sense to look sheepish. "Master Sasori taught me everything he could, so I'm done training and can go back now."

Alright, there was definitely something up here. The whole situation stank to high heaven. Naruto had left in the company of a known missing-nin, a spy, and the jinchūriki of Sunagakure…where were they? And despite their hopes, they hadn't dreamed that Naruto would actually be _willing_, and apparently, _eager_,to return. But, despite their misgivings; it _was_ their mission to bring him back…

"Er…you guys aren't going to attack me…are you?" The blond asked, looking a bit nervous.

"What? Oh! No, not at all." Sakura assured him, smiling.

"That's good. I'd hate to kill you."

"Eh?" Naruto made a motion, and the 'leaves' all detached from their trees, fluttering around like a flock of butterflies…

Wait…

A moment's closer inspection revealed that they 'leaves' were, in fact butterflies…with explosive seals painted on their wings.

_He had us the whole time…_Jiraiya thought, as Naruto retrieved a scroll, unrolling it as the whole swarm flew towards him. As each insect contacted the scroll, they disappeared, leaving a seal on the parchment. As soon as they all were gone, he rolled it back up and put it back.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get going!" Naruto grinned, and to the whole team, it looked a lot more malicious than happy.

And as they left, the Naruto Retrieval Team forming around Naruto, none of them noticed the hooded figure watching them from atop the branches of dead trees.

– Five Days Later, Konoha –

The trip back was just as uneventful as the trip out. The entire team kept an eye on Naruto, sleeping in shifts to ensure not only a proper outer guard, but an inner one. And despite their suspicions, he never made a single move.

In fact, he went out of his way to show just how trustworthy he was, hitting all of them up at some points for conversation.

Well, except for Jiraiya. He, Naruto seemed perfectly happy to infuriate with the newly invented name of 'Ero-Sennin'. The NRT quickly decided to use the name as well.

It was startling how easy things seemed to slip back into how they were prior to Naruto's…departure. Soon enough, he'd gotten Ino to spill all their personal details that had changed since before, he had Sakura visibly restraining from punching him head-first into the ground, and he and Shino were quietly discussing the various merits of certain species of arthropods over others. The only two he hadn't managed to suck back into his social sphere were Sasuke and Kiba, the latter of which stubbornly refused to talk to Naruto at all, still holding a grudge; and the former who was somewhat furious that he hadn't gotten a chance to fight the blondie.

Keeping the same rate of travel, they arrived at Konoha's gates. However, as they approached, they couldn't help but note a sudden grin spreading across Naruto's face.

A particularly foxy grin, one might say.

_Oh shit._

– Hokage's Office –

"…Anko, why are there ANBU dancing on the rooftops?"

"Heck if I know, but they sure know how to Caramelldansen!" Anko cackled, moving her hips to the beat the ANBU apparently were.

Hiruzen was about to yell for one of his chunin assistants when the door swung open, and in stepped the Naruto Retrieval Team…with Naruto. The blond had a wide grin that only grew wider as he saw Hiruzen's exasperated expression before it turned into shock at his sight. Both special jonin and Hokage stared at the orange-suited jinchūriki, before the former piped up with:

"What, already? Dammit brat, I thought you'd give them more of a workout. Especially after all those years I spent training them to beat you!"

"Aw, but Anko-chan," said Naruto, in a particularly sweet voice that when combined with who he was addressing sent the NRT subtly scooting for cover, "If I fought them that would just make it take so much longer to get back to you."

"Oh, you missed me brat?"

"Like an old rash." The two outcasts stared at each other, each with their own toothy grin, as Anko's hand slipped down her leg for one of her 'special' kunai.

"Enough you two." Hiruzen ordered. Within a moment, the air was filled with a tension, as he stared at Naruto, whose grin had slipped a little. And then it returned to full-force, only now apparently filled with joy and directed at the Hokage.

"How ya been Old Man?"

Hiruzen's jaw slackened, gaping somewhat as he stared at the indubitably changed Naruto. Then he composed himself, planting his ages-old 'good boy' smile on his face.

"I've been well, thank you Naruto, although getting a bit on in years. Tell me, how has your training been?"

They knew. Ooh, did they know. Naruto wanted something. Why else would he so blatantly act like this, and return to Konoha so easily? And despite even their best hopes, their minds all turned to the most cynical option: Neji. He wanted to kill Neji.

"Well, Master Sasori took me all over the Great Shinobi Nations. Said he wanted me to learn about other villages and such while he trained me in his techniques." Naruto replied with a wide grin still stretching his lips.

"I see…and where is Sasori now?" At this question, the expression on the blonde's face turned somewhat sheepish.

"Well, I…don't know, strictly speaking. About three months ago, he told me he taught me everything he knew and told me to go out and make my own art or something like that. I left, and haven't seen him since."

"Hmm…You say he taught you everything he knows?"

"Well, that's what he told me, but I think he was holding out on me." With that, Naruto assumed a pouting expression, crossing his arms. "Damn expressionless bastard." That brought a round of chuckles. Most of them were faked.

"In any case Naruto," Hiruzen said after ending his own false chortle, "We need to test you, see where you are skill-wise so we can see whether or not you can be a chunin." Naruto's eyes widened.

"Chunin! Really Old Man!" He asked excitedly.

"Well, of course. After all, most of your comrades have advanced."

"Yeah, I kind of noticed. So, what do I have to do?"

"Fight Sasuke." The Uchiha perked up at that, with a small grin of his own.

– Training Ground 7 –

Apparently, despite wishes to the contrary, word of the test spread wide and far, meaning that by the time they reached Training Ground 7, there was already a crowd made up of Naruto's entire graduating class, their jonin instructors, and pretty much everyone Naruto had known. Hiruzen actually spotted his grandson Konohamaru and his genin team, staring coolly at Naruto.

Which only reminded him of the drastic change in the young jinchūriki, considering that Konohamaru became like that directly due to his interactions with the genin.

"Naruto-kun! Your flames of youth seem brighter than ever!" Oh Kami-Sama, not Gai…The 'Sublime Green Beast of Konoha' stood before them, in all his green spandex-clad horror. Well, at least his mini-me wasn't-

"Naruto-san! It is good to see you again!" _Shinigami take me now._ Was the thought shared by pretty much everyone on the field.

"Gai-san, Lee-san…hehe." Naruto's grin definitely looked strained. "How have you been?"

"Quite well Naruto-kun! Lee's hard work has seen him stoke his flames of youth to ever-greater heights!" Gai shouted, clapping his hand on his pupil's shoulder. "Tell me Naruto-kun, have you kept up with your training regimen!"

"Er…yeah…I have…" Hiruzen had no doubt that whatever physical training Naruto did, it was nothing like Gai's intense workout. "And er…about that Gai-san…"

"Yes Naruto-kun?"

"Er…well…aren't you getting a bit old to be so hyper-active?" Gai froze. "I mean…it can't be healthy for an old man like you to be pushing yourself so hard…" For ten, long seconds, everyone held their breath as the infamously active Gai was apparently rendered catatonic…and then everything went back to normal.

"Haha! Don't worry about me Naruto-kun! My flames of youth shall burn for a long time yet!" And then he disappeared in the flash of green that was so common around him.

"Nice work, handling Gai like that." Naruto turned to see Team 7's instructor, Kakashi behind him. The jonin was virtually unchanged since he'd last seen him, with the same silver gravity-defying hair, the forehead protector slung low over his left eye, and the ever-present mask that defied all attempts to see his face.

"What do you mean? I was just voicing a concern." Naruto replied in an innocent voice.

"Sure, sure. Now, you may have been gone three years for special training," Kakashi had never been informed of the truth of Naruto's departure, although Hiruzen suspected the jonin knew anyway, "but Sasuke has been training just as long too, so don't take him lightly."

"Aw, it's just Sasuke!" Naruto muttered, moving to stand in the circle that the crowd formed, just as Sasuke stepped out at the other end.

"Don't take me lightly Naruto." Sasuke growled, hearing that remark. Naruto just flashed a cocky grin in response.

"Alright, let's get this started." Jiraiya, serving as the proctor, said. "This match will last for ten minutes, or until one of the combatants has been immobilized, rendered unconscious, or forfeits. At the end of the match, Naruto's performance will be evaluated by the Hokage. Now, are you two ready."

"You bet I am!" Naruto shouted, grinning. Sasuke, his own expectant grin obvious, just nodded.

"Alright then…Start!"

The moment the words left Jiraiya's mouth, Sasuke darted forward, his eyes reddening with the Sharingan and his body falling into his customary taijutsu stance. He lashed out with his right fist, intending to provoke Naruto, and then use his superior reaction speeds and close-combat ability to defeat him. And Naruto did react to his blow…but Sasuke didn't see it coming.

The blonde's hand jerked into position, deflecting Sasuke's punch without any visible muscle movement, completely defying the Sharingan's predictive ability. Sasuke's eyes narrowed. There was something…off…about Naruto. But before he could contemplate the mystery, the jinchūriki attacked, pushing on in an offensive that Sasuke, despite the relative uselessness of his bloodline, easily countered. The fight went on like that for the next minute, Sasuke's suspicions growing more and more, until he was stuck by a bolt of inspiration.

_He's using Earth Armor!_ Kakashi had introduced Sasuke to the technique months ago, giving an example of the kinds of defenses the Chidori had been designed to counter. The Earth Armor Technique was especially effective against the Uchiha, the stony covering preventing them from seeing the chakra flow and muscle tension that allowed them their great reaction time, and also being completely proof against fire-element ninjutsu.

Well, this Uchiha had a counter.

Sasuke fell back, hand seals forming rapidly before he clenched one hand around the other's wrist.

"Chidori!" Chakra, channeled through his arm, erupted out of his hand in the form of lightning that constantly sparked and crackled, creating a sound like the chirping of a thousand birds.

"Sasuke! No!" Kakashi yelled, but was too far away to interfere. And at any rate, Sasuke didn't intend to kill Naruto. A last minute side-step, moving the Chidori in a slash would create an opening in the Earth Armor, and a following strike through said opening would land a solid blow on Naruto.

That was the plan, at least. At the last instant, as Sasuke closed in, Naruto, instead of dodging like anyone would, _stepped forward_, taking the Chidori-encased hand right in his chest. Sasuke stood; his arm ran right through Naruto, and his face frozen in shock.

Someone screamed.

And then, Naruto's arms encircled Sasuke, crushing him against the blond with all the force of a vice.

"You're still too direct, Sasuke." The blonde said…except…that his voice changed as he spoke…becoming…wooden.

The spectators watched in confusion and fear, as Naruto's skin and clothing flaked off, in clods of dirt and pieces of stone, revealing an inhuman figure. Oh, it was certainly humanoid, four limbs, a torso and a head, but its body was made of wood instead of flesh, hair woven straw, and blue eyes of glass over a carved nose and mouth.

A puppet.

"What the –" Sasuke's shocked curse was interrupted when the ground beneath him exploded upwards in a geyser of soil, sending him flying five meters into the air. And as he flew, white strips of cloth emerged from the cloud of dirt, winding around him and the false Naruto until he was well-wrapped as a mummy. The bound Uchiha fell to earth with a thud, followed instantly by someone landing seated onto him.

"Cloth Binding Technique: Success." The person intoned in a dull, dead voice. As all the ninja in the crowd reacted, drawing weapons, clapping hands together in preparation for seals, they studied the figure now sitting atop Sasuke.

First, was the longcoat that was buckled at the waist and zipped up, colored a dark shade of orange, something like burnt or alloy orange. It split at the person's waist into nine separate tails that slowly faded into a deep blood red at the tips. A hood covered the man's hair, shadowed his face. The back bore the kanji for 'Orange Platoon' atop of an Uzu Spiral, which also decorated the shoulders. The front of the coat had loops holding twelve scrolls, kunai bandoleers were wrapped around the elbow-length sleeves, and bandages emerged from under those sleeves covering his arms up to the wrist. He wore pants that cut off just below the knee, giving way to bandages that disappeared into the standard shinobi sandals on his feet. The figure lifted his head, revealing a set of brilliant blue eyes under a forehead protector marked with the spiral leaf of Konoha, and over a scarf colored similarly to the coat that wound around his lower face that split into four strips from one end, and into five from the other, the tails patterned into orange and red flames.

The man glanced around, scanning the crowd before his gaze fell on the Hokage, Jiraiya, and the NRT. He raised his hand…

"Yo."

"Naruto! Is that you?" Sakura queried, her hands set to fly into any combination of seals that could either trap him in a genjutsu or blast him with any number of flame techniques. In response, the man pulled his hood down, revealing a man of spiky blond hair and bangs that framed his face. A finger pulled the scarf down so it wrapped around his neck, revealing the whiskered features of one Uzumaki Naruto.

"W-wait, wait…so, what were we escorting this whole time?" Kiba was, quite simply befuddled.

"A Puppet Earth Clone." Naruto said, some life coming into his voice as the corner of his mouth turned up in a half-smile. "Tricky little technique I've been working on since Kakashi-sensei taught us the Earth Clone technique."

"Oh so that's what you were doing." Kakashi muttered, still a little in shock.

"I see." Shino said. "You destroyed the encampment, and when you detected us approaching, you left a puppet inside of an earth clone to fool us, and followed us using the Underground Fish Technique."

"Pretty much." Naruto confirmed. "So, Old Man, do I pass or what?" Almost as one, the crowd's heads turned to face the Hokage. Suddenly put on the spot, Hiruzen coughed once, before speaking.

"Yes, well…Considering that Naruto managed to fool an entire team of chunin," _And you,_ thought everyone, "And his rapid incapacitation of chunin Uchiha, I've decided that genin Uzumaki certainly qualifies for a field promotion." And with that, Jiraiya pulled out a traditional chunin flak jacket. This one was different, however, in that it was fitted with tracking seal arrays.

"Alright! But you can keep the jacket Old Man." Naruto grinned. "I've already got a good coat."

_I figured it wouldn't be that easy_. "Yes, well, do you think you could release Sasuke?"

"Oh yeah." Naruto snapped his fingers as though he'd forgotten, standing up and reaching down to grab the bandages that confined the Last Uchiha, yanking hard. The cloth unraveled, spinning and leaving a severely disoriented chunin lying on the ground under a puppet. The newly-promoted chunin flicked a finger, and the puppet clambered back to its feet, tugging Sasuke up with it.

"Damn it Naruto…you dope…" Sasuke muttered.

"Just be glad I didn't use any of my poisons." Naruto countered. "I've got some really good ones."

"Ooh! Anything from Kusa? They've got some really nice ones that I couldn't get my hands on…"Anko pounced – almost literally – on Naruto, gleefully engaging him in a discussion about foreign poisons, toxins and venoms. Jiraiya and the Hokage retreated from the crowd, leaving Naruto to bask in attention and reconnect with old friends.

"You noticed, didn't you? How much he –"

"Looks like Minato, yes, I did." Hiruzen interrupted. "Looks just like him at that age."

"…I wonder if he knows…"

"Doubtful. Only a handful of people know, and they're all in Konoha."

"Yeah, but it's not exactly hard to look at him and see the resemblance! Any half-way intelligent person could connect the dots, and from what I've heard, Sasori is a genius."

"That may be true, but at this point I don't think it matters. If Naruto does know, he's mature enough and smart enough to keep it to himself. We have bigger problems…"

Quite simply, there were many different possibilities, each with their own set of options. First, Naruto's training may have happened exactly as he told them: Sasori training him in his arts until he judged him proficient enough to be left. It was, however, extremely unlikely. Second: Naruto was lying, and Sasori had sent him back to Konoha in order to spy on the village. For whatever reason, Hiruzen couldn't quite guess, but it was still a threatening option. Third, and the one he felt most likely, Naruto had indeed split off from Sasori, but was infiltrating the village for his own reasons, most likely to find and kill Neji, in order to fulfill his revenge.

At this point, only Naruto knew the real reason.

– That Night, Naruto's Mindscape –

**"You know kit, that they suspect you."**

"What have I told you about calling me that?" Once, the insides of Naruto's mind had resembled that of a sewer, with a cage that dominated the center, locked by a large paper seal. Then, after he trained, he turned it into a facsimile of the Hokage's office, walls covered with diagrams of puppets and seals, the window serving as the symbolic seal.

Now, it was a battlefield. Bloodstains, craters, deep gouges in the earth decorated the mindscape, with broken puppets littering the field. The boundaries of the seal here were marked by a line formed by two ranks of puppets, ranging from the clearly humanoid to the horrendously monstrous. Naruto was well within this boundary, face-to-face with the Kyuubi no Kitsune itself. And between them…

Was what amounted to an enormous shogi board, with the pieces represented by life-sized puppets.

**"Fine, fine, Naruto, but you know that they're not going to accept–"**

"Yes, I know. It doesn't matter. By the time they figure out what I'm after, _if_ they ever figure out what I'm after, I'll have already gotten what I need. Rook to E-9."

**"You slimy human bastard…Pawn to C-5. At any rate, do you know where he is?"**

"Not really, but it's not too hard to guess where. There's only a few places the Hokage would put someone like him. Knight to A-2." A deep rumbling growl emanated from the Kyuubi's throat as the puppet knight kicked over his gold general before tossing the limp body back towards Naruto's collection of captured pieces.

**"Grrrrr…Silver General to D-7."**

"Rook to B-5. Checkmate."

**"Shinigami take your soul!"**

"Now, now, don't be a sore loser." Naruto grinned. "In any case, who knows? Maybe I'll be able to get what I need without them figuring out. Hell, maybe I'll become Hokage!"

**"Whatever. Just make sure to get in a big battle soon, I want some blood!"**

"Alright, alright, I'll ask the Old Man for an assignment. You'll get your blood soon, Kurama-san."

And with that, Naruto disappeared, leaving the mindscape to get some sleep.

– The Author –

Well, here we go, into the breach!

To start, this story is obviously not going to be as slow to build up as _Disciple_ was, I kind of don't have the patience for it…so, just leaping into events.

Now, obviously, Naruto has plans, and those who were told about his defection at the end of _Disciple_ are suspecting him – only too natural, given how things went. The thing is no one besides Naruto and Kurama actually know his plans – not even Sasori, who's taking a bit of a back-seat here.

Speaking of Kurama (The Kyuubi), he and Naruto are obviously a bit friendlier to each other than in canon – the way I see it, the foundation for this relationship was built up in _Disciple,_ and it was solidified off-screen during the three-year trip. At this point, I'd say their relationship is something like a mix of Shukaku/Gaara and Hachbi/Killer Bee.

Now, before the replies, does anyone think Naruto should get a Summon? I already have the animal in mind, but I'm not sure whether or not he should get it, considering that he's already teetering too close to 'God-mode' as it is, or so I think…

Review Replies:

ShadyBlaze: Nobody102 did a very good story, I'm just building off of it.

Ex10: Long wait.  
>Exactly what I was aiming for.<p>

Orchamus: Thank you for your confidence, I'll try and live up to it.

Tikky Mikk: It was definitely one of the best I read.

bakapervert: Isn't it?


	3. Chapter 2: Out Comes The Fox

Scorpion's Masterpiece

Chapter 2  
>Out Comes The Fox<p>

– Land of Lightning –

"Damn bitch! Stay still!"

"Fuck you! Mouse Hairball!"

"Oh shi- Monsoon Barrier!"

There was a loud hissing sound as steam erupted from a clash between dozens of mouse-shaped, homing blue fireballs and a hastily-conjured wall of water, behind which cowered a pair of shinobi dressed in black cloaks, red clouds stamped sparsely across them.

" 'Let's join Akatsuki' you said," snarked one Kudaranai Kato, an A-rank missing-nin from Kirigakure, and the one currently maintaining the water barrier that protected him and his partner from the barrage of fire. "'No one would ever dare come after us then' Well guess what! That's because _Akatsuki _sends us after the most dangerous sort of people!"

"Stop your whining!" Muromaki Mubōna snapped back. "We take this broad out, hunt down the One-Tail jinchūriki, wherever the hell he is, and we're golden!"

"Yeah, well that's easier said than done!"

"Shut it! Wind Release: Hurricane Scythe!" A sweep of his hand sent a cutting edge of wind through the water barrier, slicing for the blond-haired jinchūriki of Kumogakure, who ducked under it.

The situation was as followed: Akatsuki, having to replace the only two members they'd never thought they'd have to, had scraped the bottom of the S-rank missing-nin barrel, and was forced to lower their standards. So, they acquired the services of upper A-rank missing-nin Kudaranai Kato and Muromaki Mubōna, formerly of Kirigakure no Sato. Their assigned targets were the Two-Tailed Bakaneko, and the One-Tailed Tanuki. The reasoning was quite simple: The Two-Tails, being sealed in a kunoichi of Kumogakure and having innate fire powers, was best countered by wind and water. As for Shukaku…well, Leader didn't actually expect the two to find his jinchūriki: the boy had disappeared with the Nine-Tails jinchūriki three years ago, and that was more make-work than anything else.

Still, with their elemental affinities countering those of the Two-Tails jinchūriki and the Two-Tails itself to make up for a relative lack of skill, they had a good chance of succeeding in their mission, so long as they avoided any complications.

To which end, they'd chased Nii Yugito down into the sewers of a city she'd been taking a mission in. Isolated and far away enough from Kumo that any reinforcements called for would take a day or two to arrive. The sewer provided plenty of water for Kato's Water Release Techniques, and was narrow enough that she'd have difficulty dodging Mubōna's Wind Release Techniques.

Kato flashed through a set of hand-seals.

"Water Release: Water Dragon Missile!" A whirlpool formed out of the sewer water immediately behind Kato, and out of its center reared an enormous dragon head composed of liquid, the serpentine figure's jaws gaping in a roar before it launched forward, ramming Yugito into the sewer wall. As the water sluiced back, Kato groaned, feeling the chakra expenditure wear away at him.

"You think that got her?" Mubōna asked.

"I'm not sure. Water Dragon Missile hits hard, any normal person who got a direct hit wouldn't be surviving with anything less than a dozen broken bones…but she is a jinchūriki…"

"You boys are forgetting something…" The low voice came, echoing darkly in the sewer.

"Well, that answers that question."

**"Cats have NINE LIVES!" **The end of the sewer virtually exploded in a wave of heat and steam, as a flaming blue cat formed about the jinchūriki, two blazing tails whipping behind it as the bakaneko glared at the Akatsuki members with one yellow eye and one green.

"Crap." Mubōna swore, as Kato furiously sped through three dozen hand-seals. Recognizing the sequence, Mubōna ducked behind his partner's back, crouching as the Two-Tails before them opened wide its maw, revealing an orange-red ball of chakra that started to blaze into flames. As the Two-Tails launched its attack, Kato shouted.

"Water Release: Whitehead Stampede!" The sewer water flushed back for an instant. And behind Kato, an enormous tidal wave formed, and the white foam cresting it formed into a herd of stampeding stallions, rushing to either side of the Akatsuki pair before reforming into a cohesive whole that ran for the fireball that the Two-Tails launched. The two met in the middle. As a Tailed Beast Skill, the Two-Tails's Fireball was an overly powerful example of a fire-based skill. However, Whitehead Stampede was an A-rank Water Release Technique, and the elemental balance worked in its favor. The overall effect was a perfect mutual counter, the fire's heat being smothered by the water, and the water converting into steam.

The aftermath was like a heated version of the Hidden Mist Technique, cloaking both parties from their opponents' view. Then…

"Collaboration Technique!" Kato roared.

"Wind and Water Release!" Mubōna crowed.

"Typhoon Drill!" As the technique's name suggested, a whirling drill formed of cutting wind and blasting water spun its way through the steam, homing in to the transformed Yugito. It was the perfect counter to her: Wind to deflect Lightning, and Water to douse Fire, Typhoon Drill was too powerful to use to capture Yugito by herself, but with the Two-Tails's increased endurance included, it had enough power to knock her out. Any second now, it would contact her…

"Ultimately Hard Absolute Defense: Shield of Shukaku." A male voice intoned calmly. And right in front of the Two-Tails, a sandstorm roared into existence before reforming all the grains together into an impossibly hard shield, shaped like a statue of Shukaku, the One-Tail. The Typhoon Drill slammed into it with all its force, but wind merely scattered the looser grains of sand, and water was quickly absorbed into the front. The shield stood for a moment longer before it began to dissolve into its normal sand, the drier parts sweeping the moist sand around until it dried. With this, a person was revealed standing calmly before the Two-Tails.

Gaara of the Desert was calm, and implacable. His outfit had changed due to him outgrowing his older clothing, and now consisted of long dark pants marked, a long-sleeved red dress shirt left untucked, over which he wore a generic shinobi flak vest with pouches that held six metal containers. The same gourd that he'd held back in his genin days was hoisted on his back, maybe a little larger than before, and definitely heavier. Eight golden dragons could be seen on his outfit, four on the sash that held the gourd and four on each limb.

"Hey Kato, it's the One-Tail!" Mubōna chattered excitedly. "This is awesome! We've got both targets in one place!"

"Put a sock in it! He's doing something!" Kato growled. Indeed, Gaara was slowly raising his right arm to point directly at the two Akatsuki members. Fingers folded into his palm, leaving pinky and index pointing towards Kato and Mubōna, respectively.

"Sand-Saw Noose." Shukaku's container intoned, as Kato flew through hand-seals and created a swirling barrier of water in front of him and Mubōna. Rather than the frontal sand attack that they were told to expect from their data though, thick ropes made of sand dropped from the sewer ceiling and wrapped around both A-rank missing-nin's throats before lifting them into the air, their legs kicking as their fingers reached for the nooses. And then, there was a low buzzing sound, as the sand vibrated and swept through their throats.

Kato and Mubōna's corpses dropped into the sewage followed a moment later by their heads. The ropes disintegrated into their individual grains, moving all together in a cohesive whole as a cloud to Gaara, funneling down into his gourd.

"Too easy." Gaara muttered.

**"Who the he**ll are you?" Yugito demanded, shifting from her Version Two state back into normal human form, but not dropping her guard.

"Gaara of the Desert," The red-head replied, turning just enough to glance at Yugito out of the corner of his eye, "Jinchūriki of Shukaku, and Eighth Dragon of Yūgure."

"Yūgure? What in Shinigami's name is–" Yugito spun midsentence, her hands flickering through hand-seals as she did so – only to stop when a square parchment was attached to her face, a complicated glowing sealing array apparent on the paper's front. The Kumo kunoichi fell limply to the sewer floor.

"Awesome work, Gaara-kun." Kabuto grinned, slinking out of the shadows. Gaara grunted in response, sand coiling out of the gourd, some going to restrain Yugito in a large cocoon, while most went to form a two-meter-wide square platform floating a few inches above the surface of the sewer water. The sand cocoon lifted up and landed on the platform, the different structures fusing together as Kabuto and Gaara leaped on. The platform moved, hovering along for the sewer gate that the two had entered the overly large labyrinth from. As they passed a specific part of the wall, Kabuto and Gaara turned to face it, the former smirking as the latter narrowed his gaze.

Minutes after they passed, the wall distorted, a venus flytrap-like thing extruding from it before snapping open and revealing a human head and shoulders inside, colored white on one half and black on the other.

"Leader-sama's not going to like this." The white side muttered nervously.

**"Gee, you think?"** The black half sneered.

– Land of Rain –

"Yūgure?" The purple, rippled eyes of Akatsuki's Leader, Pain, narrowed. The holograms of the other Akatsuki members flinched, the rogue shinobi instinctively drawing back from Leader's ire.

_"That is what the One-Tail said, Leader-sama."_ Zetsu White replied cautiously.

**_"It would appear, Leader-sama, that this is the reason we've had so little success in tracking the jinchūriki."_** Zetsu Black surmised.

Ever since Orochimaru defected, killing Sasori in the process, Akatsuki had been having serious troubles. Sasori's intelligence network had been an instrumental part of Akatsuki's operations. Through it, they had kept track of all potential future recruits for Akatsuki. Through it, they'd contacted clients with mission requests, offering to perform for much, much lower rates than any shinobi village would dare contemplate, at once undercutting the 'big five villages' profits and cementing Akatsuki as a trustworthy and profitable alternative.

And most importantly, they'd used it to keep track of all the jinchūriki.

Sasori's death lost them the use of that valuable tool, and for that Akatsuki had persecuted Orochimaru's operations. The organization had been forced to use its carefully gathered funds and Kakuzu's own fortune to try and recreate the intelligence network, an endeavor that took a year before it began operating at any appreciable effect, and even then operated with nowhere near as much efficacy as Sasori's had.

And then Kakuzu and his partner, Hidan, had been killed, or incapacitated to similar effect, in the Land of Waves, robbing Akatsuki of Kakuzu's extensive wealth as well as their two most hardy operatives.

Pain had investigated. And then Pain had punished. The Land of Waves was destroyed for its part. Which had immediately sent alarm bells ringing throughout the world, making Akatsuki's operations even harder to carry out.

All-in-all, it was only due to Zetsu and his espionage abilities that they'd managed to keep track of the jinchūriki they knew of.

Except that, slowly, the Tailed Beasts' containers were disappearing, from both their own villages and Akatsuki's eyes. The first had been the Four-Tails and Five-Tails. Evidence suggested that their containers had fled Iwagakure, been chased by their hunter-nin, and eventually perished in an especially destructive manner, taking out both their pursuers and themselves. Pain had resigned himself to awaiting the two Tailed Beasts' reformation.

And then word had come of the Seven-Tails, from Takigakure, disappearing. There one day, and gone the next. With the Nine-Tails and One-Tail vanishing three years ago, this meant that the list of jinchūriki Akatsuki knew of was down to four: The Eight-Tails, restrained inside of a shinobi of Kumogakure, the Six-Tails, sealed inside one of Kirigakure, the Three-Tails, which was loose in the sea, and the Two-Tails.

Now though, they had lost the Two-Tails, and now had a hint as to why.

"Itachi, contact our informants and tell them to keep a watch out for any mention of this…Yūgure." Pain ordered. "Deidara, Jūgo, make preparations to capture the Three-Tails. Zetsu, find Tobi and tell him he is now a member. Find him a partner."

_"Yes Leader-sama."_ They chorused, holograms disappearing from sight, until only Pain and his partner were left alone in the chamber. There was a moment of stillness, before she moved.

"Pain…" Konan started, the blue-haired, grey-eyed kunoichi hesitating. "This Yūgure…"

"Yūgure…meaning 'Dusk', opposed to Akatsuki, meaning 'Dawn'…someone is challenging us." Pain said.

"But…that means–"

"It doesn't matter." Pain interrupted Konan. "All those who challenge God shall be cast down."

Such was God's Will.

– Konoha –

The graveyard was silent, as was suitable.

Few visited these areas, as they were more memorials than actual resting places, for those shinobi who'd died without leaving a body, or for those whose clans had buried them in restricted resting places, and were visited by friends not of their clan.

Yūhi Kurenai, jonin instructor of the now-disbanded Team 8, made it a weekly habit to visit one, specific grave, kneeling before the marker.

Hinata's.

Kurenai had watched as her student grew from a timid, stuttering little girl to a genin with self-confidence and resolve; seen as she grew beyond her clan's limited view of Jyuuken proficiency as the mark of an excellent Hyuuga shinboi and branched out into other skills. Had felt a sense of pride as she opened up and interacted more with others.

And then Kurenai had watched in horror when Neji killed Hinata.

For months afterward, the only contact she'd had with anyone else had been with Anko, who made a habit of breaking into Kurenai's home to keep her company. Team 8 had been split, Shino going to Team 7 to replace Naruto; and Kiba going to Gai's genin team to fill in Neji's spot after he'd been locked up.

So Kurenai had been left, doing only missions and little else.

_I am such a screw-up_, was the common thought that ran through Kurenai's mind on days like today. She'd instantly recommended her team for the Chunin Exams when called, competing with Kakashi and Asuma, betting that her rookies were better than theirs…and gotten Hinata killed.

"Kurenai-san?" The sudden voice brought Kurenai up, smoothly into a combative stance as she whirled to face the speaker. For a moment, she prepared to attack the hooded stranger, until she remembered Anko visiting her earlier, and telling her about the return of a certain genin – now chunin.

"Naruto?" In response, he swept back his hood and pulled down the scarf around his face. "It is you. Anko told me you came back."

"Yeah." The blond seemed subdued. "Is that…"

"No." Kurenai shook her head. "Hiashi cremated her two days after Neji killed her. This is just a memorial I set up for her."

"I see…" Kurenai noted Naruto touching one of the scrolls on his jacket, specifically one on the inner-left side, top row. The position closest to his heart. Naruto walked over to the marker Kurenai had been kneeling before, kneeling himself and touching it. They remained like that for several minutes.

Then Naruto stood, tugging his scarf back up and pulling his hood up.

"I'd better go. The Old Man wants to give me an assignment." They nodded to each other, and then Naruto left.

– Next Day, Land of Fire, South-Western Region –

"So, you fed successive generations of your kikai bugs a chakra mix primarily consisting of fire chakra with some medical chakra, and made them fire-proof?"

"Yes." Shino replied simply. "If you recall our discussion prior to your…departure, I told you about the kikai's aggressive evolution. Using that, along with the notes on countering Jyuuken damage to produce minute amounts of medical chakra, combined with the fire-natured chakra I could produce after extensive training, I eventually managed to breed a sub-species of kikai bug with the capability to be imbued with fire chakra – rather similar to chakra-conductive weaponry, but restricted to a single element."

It was remarkable how things had fallen into place following Naruto's return. Not only did their friendship spring back into existence with ease, but the Hokage had seemed confident enough in his character to give Naruto a B-rank mission with Team 7 – minus Kakashi, who it seemed had a different mission to do. And thus did Shino find himself informing Naruto about the events of the past three years, as they hunted down a bandit encampment led by a few missing-nin, led by Sasuke.

"Shush you two." Sasuke scowled. "We're coming up on the camp." Team 7 leaped through the trees three times more before stopping in a dense part of the forest, looking into a clearing lit up with camping fires, populated by ragged, apparently random brutes and criminals.

"What do you think? Forty, maybe fifty?" Sakura whispered.

"My kikai account for exactly fifty-seven chakra sources equivalent to that of untrained civilians." Shino informed them quietly. "The worrisome fact is that they have not detected any chakra levels associated with shinobi – not even academy-level."

"So the missing-nin aren't here?" Sasuke frowned. "Then where could they be?" Naruto, in the rear of the group, smirked under his scarf.

And then he leaned to the side.

Just as a figure in leafy-green camouflage netting lunged through the space he'd been occupying previously. Naruto grabbed onto the end of his scarf that split into four tassels, yanking hard and using chakra threads to manipulate the cloths around the man's neck, kicking his feet out from under him to make him fall off of the branch, and yanking hard again on the scarf.

The result was a harsh snap, and a limply dangling body. The other three chunin stared at him, and then switched their gazes to the body.

"Who is that? And how did you know he was here?" Sakura asked. In response, Naruto brought the corpse up to their level, brushing aside the netting to reveal a tanned face with forgettable features, under an Iwa forehead protector with the single slash through the symbol that marked a missing –nin.

"This man here," Naruto begun, "is one Mazushī Hokori, a former chunin who was a member of Iwa's Clan Countermeasure Unit, an institution formed during the Third Shinobi World War to deal with the unorthodox techniques usually practiced by clans. I believe he was part of a sub-unit that developed a countermeasure to the Aburame's kikai bugs – a simple herbal spray that produced a scent insects in general instinctively avoid."

"Which explains how I did not detect him. My kikai bugs avoided his general area." Shino deduced.

"As for how I detected him, I trust you guys can recall my hearing?" The three looked sheepish…well, Sakura looked sheepish. Shino was, on the surface, as inscrutable as always, and Sasuke had a frustrated expression. What Naruto wasn't telling them about were the chakra sensor seals engraved into his sockets. "By the way, you might want to take care of the three other guys behind us." They whirled around, catching their would-be assailants off-guard, while Naruto dropped down to the forest floor.

Sasuke dealt with his opponent directly – a strike to the solar plexus followed by a jaw-shattering blow to the head, finishing with a stiff-fingered throat jab that collapsed his airways.

Sakura's opponent was forced into a simple genjutsu that shifted her two meters to the side in his vision, and then hit him into the third enemy, wherein they were engulfed in a swarm of buzzing kikai bugs.

"These aren't really former chunin, are they?" Sasuke asked, regarding his suffocating foe with annoyance.

"It would appear that spending a decade as a bandit has dulled whatever skills they may have had significantly." Shino surmised.

"Anyway, let's take care of the bandits now."

"Why don't you guys let me take care of it?" Naruto offered.

"Dope, there's fifty-seven of them and one of you." Sasuke snorted, although truthfully he didn't really think the bandits would be too much trouble for any one of them, given their respective ninjutsu arsenals and Shino's fire kikai bugs.

"Please, _Sakura_ could take them…er, no offense." Naruto hastily added, seeing the pinkette turn a gimlet eye on him. "But it's more of a favor to someone." And with that, Naruto ran through a very specific sequence of hand seals, which the three were very familiar with having seen Anko and Jiraiya perform them many times.

_He's not serious is he?_ Sasuke thought incredulously.

"Summoning Technique: Avatar of Kurama!" A large cloud of smoke puffed into existence around Naruto, and when it cleared, the three only froze in fear.

Standing before them, larger than Akamaru, was a three-tailed version of the Nine-Tails no Kitsune.

**"You know, it took you long enough."** The infamous Tailed Beast growled.

"You know how it goes, get a mission, and track down a target." Naruto shrugged. "It took a bit of time. Anyway, go have fun now." Sasuke's heart stopped when the blood-red, slitted-pupil gaze fell on him, and the fox started drooling. "No, you can't eat the Uchiha." A frustrated growl rumbled from the fox, before it stalked off for the bandit encampment. "I better go along with him…he tends to play with his food." And with that, Naruto darted off.

Again though, like with his senses, there was a dimension to this event that Naruto didn't tell his team. Mainly that Kurama wasn't a summon. As a matter of fact, the kitsune itself was still inside the seal. The body they were gaping at was originally that of a common red fox, that Kabuto and Naruto had captured and modified, much like Naruto's 'zombie puppets', except for a much more complicated sealing array connected by chakra thread to the Eight Trigrams Seal that allowed Kurama to control it much the same way Naruto controlled his other puppets, complete with the techniques that Naruto used to see and hear through his puppets, which worked with all senses when used with the Living Fox Puppet. This also meant that Naruto had to stay close to the fox though, since the chakra thread had a limited range.

This, which Naruto had intended as a good-will gift in the same manner as its revelation to him about enhancing his physical strength, had been the catalyst for their current, somewhat-friendly relationship, since it gave Kurama a way outside the seal, even if only for short durations. Which was why Naruto had decided to conceal it as a summons. He made the hand-signs, but he didn't use any chakra while doing so, only channeling a minute amount into the seals on his wrist to unseal the puppet, and then generating a chakra thread and attaching it to the Dead Demon Consuming Seal in a way that allowed Kurama to use it. The only risk of being discovered was if a Hyuuga familiar with the summoning technique had their Byakugan active and watched him closely while he was aping it.

**"Don't you think this is a bit early to be revealing me?"** Kurama asked as the first of the bandit's look-outs spotted the duo.

"Meh, I'll deal with it as it comes along." Naruto said, waving his hand as though to shoo away the fox's concerns. A small smile graced his face as he noted a chakra source moving swiftly away, one that had followed Team 7 since their departure.

By now, the bandits were scrambling to form a circle around the pair, jinchūriki and Tailed Beast, wielding weapons from naginata and katana to woodsman's axes and harvesting scythes. There was a momentary pause, as though neither side could really believe this was happening.

And then the fox lashed out, its enormous form moving with a sort of brutal, feral grace as it batted aside a rank of spear-wielders to snap its jaws around the torso of a bandit that had strayed a little too far out of line with his brethren. As blood squirted out of the gaping wound's Kurama's teeth tore, the fox shuddered with pleasure as he tasted blood for the first time in two months. Naruto watched, amused, as the beast snickered through its mouthful of bandit before reaching out and grabbing another with its strangely humanoid paws, batted an entire squad of them away with a sweep of its tails, and bit fully through the meal in its mouth.

The funny thing was that, despite the fear the fox's image instinctively inspired in any who knew of the Tailed Beasts, most of the carnage being wrought before his eyes was a result of the Bakegitsune Puppet's massively altered physique and seal array, with a minute amount of Kurama's chakra channeled through the thread that enhanced it. Kami knew, if the actual Three-Tails had been here, the area would have been flattened almost instantly, and if Kurama was free, the entire region would have been destroyed in the blink of an eye.

Regardeless of the potential devastation a Tailed Beast could wreak, Kurama was making a good showing of himself, and tearing through bandits like an Akimichi through a buffet (Naruto had seen that happen once – it wasn't pretty). And eventually, three bandits wizened up, and darted around the bloody mess the fox made of their comrades and made a beeline for Naruto. They, apparently, thought Kurama was a summon and were trying to take out his 'summoner'.

It was cute, how they thought they could take him. Rolling his eyes a little, Naruto channeled a little chakra through his forehead. Unseen by anyone, a seal lit up under his foreheard protector. The focus seal Sasori had given him years ago had helped Naruto quite a bit in his studies, and had also proven useful in finagling his way through an interrogation. This new focus seal that Naruto had designed (making sure Sasori hadn't slipped any 'extras' in) also helped in combat. Whereas the original seal had only on and off settings, this one had multiple settings of focus, ranging from the kind of absolute, only-one-thing-in-my-mind kind the original had, to a state that was akin to a mild interest in the subject being focused on. There were, of course, dangers in using the focus seal, as it removed awareness of one's surroundings in order to heighten awareness of the target – very dangerous in battle. But Naruto had experience in using it, and most of the bandits were caught up in fleeing Kurama's fun.

_Now…_Naruto thought, focusing on the three bandits and bringing years of combat and medical experience to the fore. _First target, male of middling age, hundred and eighty centimeters, overweight by three kilos, wielding iron kanabō, hitch in step indicates prior damage to left knee, overcompensation for weight shows inexperience using weapon. Second target, younger male, hundred and seventy-one centimeters, underweight, wields two tantō, emaciated structure indicates malnourishment and misaligned ribs indicative of prior damage healed improperly. Third target, older male, hundred and eighty-two centimeters, decent physique, using single katana, scarring points to extensive battle experience._

_Plan: First, duck under wild swing from Target One, wrap bandages around kanabō, kick to shatter left knee and simultaneously trip Target Two with scarf. Result: Target One falls onto Target Two, re-breaking ribs and causing fatal injury to lungs. Second, sweeping attack with bandaged kanabō, forcing Target Three to duck, following palm strike to face to disorient. Retrieve katana, stab through Target One's head, and simultaneously smashing kanabō into Target Three's head. Result: Instantaneous fatality to Target One and Target Two via cranial assault._

Prepared, Naruto charged. The first bandit swung wildly at him, an easily avoided attack that Naruto ducked under as the bandages on his arms unwrapped, guided by chakra threads to tangle around the spiked iron club as he lashed out with a vicious kick that broke the bandit's left kneecap. The second, smaller bandit squawked as the combination of lost support and Naruto yanking on his club caused the first to fall. The bandit tried to dodge, but found that Naruto had tangled his legs in the tassels of his scarf. Naruto spun, swinging the large club around with his bandages at the third, gray-haired bandit, who contemptuously ducked under the wide swing, only to get a blow to the face from the blond jinchūriki's palm that shattered his nose. Naruto snatched the bandit's katana from his loose hands, pivoting to stab the first bandit through his head, yanking on the bandages to bring the club back around to smash into the third bandit's head.

Looking around, Naruto grinned. The camp was well and truly destroyed now, Kurama's rampage smashing down tents and kicking over fires as his fun scattered blood and gore all over.

"Well, I think that's a mission well done." Naruto commented.

– Base Underneath Konoha –

It was a dark, cold place the spy reported to his master, almost a full kilometer beneath the Village Hidden in the Leaves. It was a highly-kept secret that practically no one above knew of, and even the organization that frequented it was a rumor, if that.

"You say he summoned the fox?" Shimura Danzō, advisor to the Hokage and leader of the secret and officially disbanded Root division of ANBU, queried.

"Yes, Danzō-dono." The Root ANBU replied, kneeling before his lord. As with the entire Root, he had no visible distinguishing attributes other than his mask, the black cloak he wore concealing his personal attire underneath.

"This is unexpected…the Fourth's seal was supposed to be insurmountable..." Danzō mused. "Still…this could be an opening for an even greater opportunity. Continue to keep watch over the subject…better, get Squad Twelve on it as well."

"Yes Danzō-dono." The Root bowed, and then flickered away. Danzō sat in the chamber awhile, musing.

_Three-year training trip…what a load of crock, Hiruzen._ Danzō knew that the Nine-Tail's jinchūriki had deserted. He'd known, and so had Homura and Koharu, the moment the Hokage had returned with Jiriaiya, the latter lugging along a large sake jug covered in paper seals. Hiruzen had only cemented their suspicions with that announcement. Danzō had sent out Root agents to try and track down the container, to be subverted to Root for the good of Konoha. They'd never found him.

However, Danzō had kept an ear out for news of the boy. Eventually, that had paid off.

He'd gotten word of a new mercenary, appearing a year ago, using puppets skillfully enough to rapidly rake in bounties on high-rank missing-nin. That much the Hokage knew from Jiraiya's network, but Danzō's Root operatives were in places that even the Toad Sage couldn't get to, so he was one of the few in Konoha who knew of the Suna hunter-nin squad that had disappeared shortly afterwards. And then, a month after that, Iwa issued a new edition of their bingo book containing an entry for the 'Orange One-Man Platoon', with a description remarked to be 'similar to Konoha's Yellow Flash'.

This after an event that even the Root spies couldn't get and information on, Danzō only knew that it involved the confirmed death of an entire hunter-nin platoon and the loss of two highly important shinobi.

Danzō knew that the boy was responsible for all this, which made his acquisition all the more important. As it was right now, the jinchūriki had unknown allegiances, unknown goals. Oh, virtually everyone in Konoha suspected he was gunning for Hyuuga Neji, but Danzō wasn't foolish enough to expect such an obvious goal from the boy as he was now. Oh, maybe if he'd kept the attitude he'd had before his graduation, all bluster and blunt trauma, but not now. No, the jinchūriki as he was now would have crept into Konoha, completely bypassing its defenses, and slaughtered the Hyuuga and left before anyone was the wiser.

No…the boy was back for some other, more esoteric goal…and Danzō needed to know what.

If he knew what Naruto wanted, then he could use it to…leash the fox.

So to speak.

– The Author –

Well, another chapter, and in a much shorter timeframe than I said.

But there's a reason for that, since I need to get back to work on some other things too, so I figured I'd give you guys another bit to gnaw on during the wait.

On a different note, I only recently saw the Sherlock Holmes movie due to Netflix, and I found Holmes' weaponized Sherlock Scan (TV Tropes corrupts!) to be highly entertaining, and so I figured I'd put something similar in here.

And I just realized that, besides from the puppet earth clone last chapter, I've yet to actually put any major puppeteering action in. Oh well, next chapter.

And as for the summons, I've decided to go ahead and add them in, as I think I can write them in a way that makes sense for Naruto's style of combat. Not to mention, it adds a few characters.

Review Replies:

Tikky Mikk: He most certainly is…  
>Don't worry; it's certainly an animal that hasn't been used before…well, at least not in canon. I haven't read all the Naruto fanfics, so I can't be sure whether other writers have used it or not…but it's nothing mythical, I assure you.<p>

bakapervert: You're welcome.  
>Good point, but Naruto's main strengths will still be his puppeteering skills and trickery, the summons will just be some tactical additions…<p>

Holop: Thank you.

Orchamus: Heh, I think I'll have the first of his short-term objectives revealed soon enough…  
>Not sure about Anko, I'll have to think about that.<br>Hehe.

hills on alive: Well, thanks for the advice, and it's an intriguing idea. But, I already have an animal in mind…and this Naruto doesn't have shadow clones.

Crzymnky666: Heh, thank you for your confidence.

Jigoku no Yami: I dunno, the Shinigami seems to be ranking high up there…but I meant 'God-Mode' by being overly powerful…I suppose the correct term would be Mart Sue…Or would it?  
>Cool.<p>

Darkwill0w: Thanks! I'll be sure to check it out.

x-marks-the-spot1974: You're welcome.

Peter Kim: Well, everyone suspects that, but like above, if that was _all_ Naruto wanted, then Neji would be strung up in pieces around his current domicile without anyone knowing better until someone checked on him.  
>I haven't actually decided about Oto…you bring up an interesting point…hmm…<p>

Failing Mentality: You're welcome.

Kagami Kamiya: Thank you.  
>How so?<br>Well, the only people who actually know, for sure, about Naruto's defection are the Hokage, the Naruto Retrieval Team and their instructors. Some others, like Danzō, suspect, but the rest of the civilian and shinobi population still think he was just on a training trip, meaning that they basically treat him the same as ever.  
>Yeah, he has short-term goals, but it's the long-term ones that will prove somewhat damaging.<br>Not necessarily. Some summons provide capabilities that puppets don't, and the animal in mind works perfectly well with Naruto's style.  
>I sure will.<p>

Knightmare Frame Razgriz: Been a while since I heard from you.  
>Heh, well, I aim to surprise.<br>I'll check it out.

KafeiDetour: Thank You.

Knightmare Gundam of Ni


	4. Chapter 3: Allowance

Scorpion's Masterpiece

Chapter 3  
>Allowance<p>

– Naruto's Mindscape –

Again, Kurama and Naruto met in the twisted horror that was the blonde's mindscape, except now, instead of shogi, they played…poker.

Why? Naruto didn't know. The kitsune had played this game enough with him to know that he _never_, _ever_ lost. Which made sense, seeing as in his mindscape Naruto could continually keep drawing the best hands, whereas Kurama, with the specific limitation that Naruto had placed to prevent mental manipulations by any other than him, had to deal with it as normal. The game, however, was merely a backdrop for their conversation.

**"I have to say, out of all your memories of the old human, that one yesterday was the best!"**

"Heh, I know, right? The expression on his face when Sasuke told him!"

**"And then the one where you offered to write him a full report!" **Apparently, Naruto's 83-page report about the…cataclysmic mission to the Land of Waves was still infamous. Three years, and the thing still stumped everyone who tried to read it. The Hokage had blanched impressively at Naruto's offer, and it was clear he feared some two-thousand page monstrosity that would break his desk under its weight.

**"Full house!"**

"Straight Flush."

**"Damn human…" **Aside from the conversation and game, Naruto was also practicing operating simultaneously in the real world and in his mindscape. It wasn't easy, but it was worth it to keep the two communicating while allowing Naruto to be productive in reality. Currently, being productive meant training. Nothing serious, just some basic taijutsu forms, hand-seal speed training…simple stuff, really, that he could do in any training ground.

**"All in!"** Kurama growled, the nine-tailed fox shrunk to a more manageable size to handle the cards. Naruto sighed. They weren't really betting anything more than bragging rights, but he still didn't see why Kurama did-

"If that's all right with you…Naruto-kun?" The strangely changed voice caused Naruto to look up. And before him, in Kurama's place, was what must have been the most voluptuous woman Naruto had ever seen. She was just a centimeter shorter than him, with a fairly large bust, and an hourglass figure. And, she was.

Completely.

Naked.

Inside his mindscape, Naruto just disappeared, while outside he fainted with a spray of blood gushing out from his nose. Inside, the woman snickered upon seeing Naruto's fallen cards, now turned into racy photos of her, before a poof of smoke consumed her, leaving Kurama in her place.

**_Oh, who would have thought the kit would fall to his own technique!_** And then Kurama paused, thinking, and started snickering again, a sound that would have sent man and beast alike fleeing in terror at its malicious glee.

**_And the expression on his face when I tell him that was based off of his own mother!_**

– Konoha, Uchiha District –

It had been two days since the B-rank mission that had seen Team 7 (with Naruto) hunting down the missing-nin-supported bandits. There had been several hurried and hushed meetings since then, between those 'in-the-know' about Naruto, all of which had been equally inconclusive and frustrating. Quite simply, none of them knew how to deal with this latest development.

In all seriousness, how did one predict a jinchūriki being able to summon their Tailed Beast right out of their seal?

Still, the Naruto Retrieval Team (name change impending) weren't about to let even this development set them back from their goal of truly bringing Naruto back into Konoha's fold! As such, the five were currently meeting at Sasuke's residence in the Uchiha district.

"So what do the records say about it Forehead?"

"The same thing as always Ino-pig! That it can topple mountains with a sweep of its tails, create hurricanes with a slash of its claws, _set a forest on fire with its farts!_"

"…Really?"

"No, but I wouldn't be surprised if it could do that too!"

"Obviously…"Shino butted in with a sigh, "We cannot rely on the records, but rather on what we saw."

"And what did you see?" Kiba snarled, irritable as always when it came to the subject of Naruto. The five of them were currently seated around a table in the living room, in a house well away from the dividing wall between the Uchiha district and Konoha proper. Sakura and Ino were glaring at each other, with Shino seated between them across from a decidedly unpleasant Kiba and a brooding Sasuke. Well, really it was more a contemplative brood rather than the dark one that he had sported in the past – three years of Anko would drive that right out of a person, not to mention the camaraderie that had slowly developed between the NRT.

"Great size and physical strength." Shino replied. "As well as a remarkable speed for its size. Little other than that, as the kitsune only used those in its slaughter of the bandits. I am unsure as to why – Naruto mentioned it 'playing with its food', which would indicate it holding back for the sake of pleasure, but it did manifest with only three tails. Perhaps a sign of lesser power?" The bug-user mused openly.

"Maybe." Sasuke spoke, drawing the other's attention to him. "The histories always said that the Nine-Tails was accompanied by an aura of malice and rage that would bring the weakest of people down to their knees…but there was nothing like that there." Both Sakura and Shino paused, recalling the time the fox had been before them.

"This is true." Shino confirmed. "While there was a natural fear of seeing a large predator, accompanied by our own ingrained terror of the fox, there was no such 'aura' as described."

"Well, why then?" Kiba growled, drawing an irritated look from Sasuke and a cool stare from Shino before he settled down a little.

"The answer, I believe, lies in the technique Naruto used." Shino supplied.

"How? It was a summoning technique, almost exactly like the ones Anko and Jiraiya used." Sakura said. Then she thought for a moment. "Well, maybe. He did say 'Avatar of Kurama'…"

"Avatar? Hmm…" Shino thought.

"What's an Avatar?"

"There are two definitions for the term: A manifestation of a deity in bodily form in the mortal realm, or an incarnation, embodiment, or manifestation of a person or idea." Shino supplied Kiba. "Which means that the summons was for an avatar of Kurama…which must be the fox."

"EH!" The girls and Kiba stared at Shino in shock, and even Sasuke had a rather standard expression of surprise. The fox had always been 'The Nine-Tailed Demon Fox' to them, not something with a name…

"If you recall, the fox spoke when it was summoned." Shino explained. "Thus, it is intelligent, and in general, intelligent creatures possess names, or monikers by which they can be identified – this is true with the summoned creatures as well." They had to admit, it made sense. "Since there are no records of the fox's name in the texts, there is only one source where Naruto learned it from: the fox itself."

"Which must mean they're on decent, if not good, terms." Sasuke mused.

"No way." Sakura declared. "They can't be. The Nine-Tails is a malicious, evil demon! Naruto couldn't be friendly with it unless…"

"Unless he was like it." Kiba declared, a little coldly. A chill passed through the others of the group, imagining a vicious and bloodthirsty Naruto. Even Sasuke, stoic as he was, shuddered, remembering the crazed fake battle Naruto had waged with him during the disastrous Wave mission that awakened his Sharingan.

"While that possibility could be true, there is also the potential for Naruto to have obtained the Nine-Tails…acquaintanceship…through another means." Shino again seized the conversation. "Do you recall what Naruto said prior to summoning the fox? About it 'being a favor to someone'? It may be that he's been using his bounty and bandit hunting as a way to ingratiate the fox to him. After all, what prisoner wouldn't be grateful for even short periods of freedom?"

"Sounds about right." Kiba muttered. "But before you forget, what about this 'avatar' nonsense?"

"From what we've figured, it sounds like Naruto's not actually summoning the fox itself – just a stand-in through which the fox can experience the world." Sakura informed him.

"Oh…well, that's a relief."

"Still, it doesn't help us much." said Ino. "After all, it just means that the fox isn't as much of a threat as we feared. Except for that, we haven't figured anything out about Naruto's goals or why he came back so easily."

"It's a pity we can't find Neji." Sasuke growled darkly. He being an avenger, Sasuke could sympathize with Naruto wanting to slaughter the bastard Hyūga. "Or else we could just hand him over, and all this would be moot."

"It would make this situation easier on us if we had a hook for Naruto." Shino admitted. "Something to ensure his loyalty, whether in a positive or negative manner. Unfortunately, nothing comes to mind. He already has power from his training with Sasori, his proven proficiency with bounty hunting removes the possibility of wealth or safety as a lure, there really isn't much that we can offer Naruto, is there?" They sat there, silent. Until Sakura spoke up.

"This is a really sad situation, isn't it?" Her voice was soft. "Naruto is…is our friend, and yet here we are…pretty much plotting against him like he's…."

"In case you've forgotten Sakura…" Kiba growled, assuming a feral look. "He's a traitor! Why the Hokage didn't mark him down as a missing-nin I'll never know!"

"Kiba." Shino's rebuke was sharp, firm and calm. "Regardless of your feelings, the Hokage saw fit to conceal Naruto's defection from everyone, and assigned us to eventually retrieve him. We did so, and as a result, he is our comrade again…despite our suspicions. And Sakura," He turned towards the pinkette, "Naruto's defection does mean we have to consider the possibility that he is not, in fact, truly loyal again and plan for that." Shino looked around at all of them, before rising.

"It appears that we shall not accomplish much more in this meeting." And with that, they simply left, each of them returning to their respective haunts or homes. Except for Ino, who instead headed to someone else's haunt.

– Naruto's Garden –

Ino headed for a place she had found shortly after Naruto had left: His garden. She'd long wondered what her fellow blond had done with some of the plants she'd given him, since he obviously didn't have them in or near his apartment…and months after his defection, during a rare bout of depression, she'd stumbled across this beautiful garden, maintained in one of the abandoned training fields that were officially retired from use for one reason or another. It had been obviously well-cared for, and had a wide assortment of flowers, from roses to tulips, all of which Ino had recognized as plants she'd given to Naruto at one point or another.

In his absence, Ino had taken to caring for the garden herself. It was remarkably soothing, and a good way to pass the time when she wasn't training with either her team or the NRT, or working at the Yamanaka Flower Shop.

Lost in thoughts about the meeting, and of Naruto, Ino was already mechanically beginning her customary preparations when she spotted a something orange in the garden's clear center. Moving closer, she gasped to find Naruto collapsed on the ground.

"Naruto! Oy, Naruto!" shouted Ino, darting to the jinchūriki's side and shaking him roughly. It took twenty seconds and a slap, but eventually, Naruto was revived.

"Ugh…damn fox." He moaned, sitting up and wiping at his nose.

"What? What did it do?" Ino asked with a clear note of alarm in her voice.

"Hmm? Oh, nothing serious…damn fox likes to play pranks…" Naruto explained sheepishly. "This particular one was startling…to say the least…Oh, I'm gonna get that bastard back." He growled. Ino couldn't help but giggle at the sight of Naruto with a faux-serious expression. It just didn't suit him. "Oh yeah, what are you doing here Ino?"

"Well…after you…left…I found this garden. It's beautiful, and I found myself coming here a lot." Ino explained.

"Heh, well, thank you for the compliment, and for taking care of it." Naruto grinned. "I was afraid this whole garden would be overgrown when I came back."

"Well, you're welcome Whiskers." Ino smirked back at him, using the nick-name she'd given him. And just like that, they were talking just like they had before the whole chunin exam mess, chattering at length about what had happened in Konoha. From what Ino could tell, Naruto's conversational skills hadn't suffered at all in the past three years. However, Ino had been canny to his ability to steer conversations for a while now, and managed to manipulate the flow around to a topic of her interest for once.

"So Naruto, did you go to any interesting places?" She fully expected him to either partially answer before realizing what she asked or dodge the question. Instead…

"Yep! You ever hear of the Land of Iron?"

"Er…yeah, I did. It's a nation built around these mountains…what were they called…"

"The Three Wolves. They're a pretty strange set of mountains I tell you, but it's easy to see why they got the name. Look like great big wolf maws. Anyway, Maser Sasori and I stayed in the Land of Iron for a little over a year, and it was a rough one at that! Every day, freezing my toes off training. And not just with him."

"Huh?"

"I managed to get into a samurai dojo, where they train their forces. You see, rather than ninja, the entire military force of the Land of Iron is made up of samurai. It's really interesting though, because unlike the samurai employed by the Elemental Nations' Daimyo, the Iron Samurai know how to use chakra."

"Wow, really? What's their element?"

"That's the thing, they don't use elements. No nature transformation whatsoever. Instead, they use shape transformation."

"Wait – like the Fourth's Rasengan?"

"Exactly. As a matter of fact, they mentioned that technique during my time there, touting it as a masterful example." Ino smirked at that. Even samurai recognized the Fourth's skill. "Anyway, between the dojo and Master Sasori, I was ragged by the time we left there."

"So what did you learn?" Ino leaned forward, inching closer.

"Well, shape transformation, naturally, and by the time I left, the dojo master considered me to be 'decent' at kenjutsu. Learned a lot about bushido too, and some large-scale unit tactics – which, come to think of it, was probably why Master Sasori let me go there…" Ino nodded absently as Naruto continued the tale, her mind on other matters.

Like how the rest of the NRT had to hear about this.

Eventually, Naruto reached the end of his story about his time in the Land of Iron, giving Ino an unsuspicious opening to leave. Getting up, she thanked Naruto for the talk and walked off out of the garden. Naruto stared after her with a wistful expression, sitting in his garden, unmoving for an hour. Finally, sighing, he stood up, brushing dirt off of his coat and pants. Closing his eyes, he turned around to face the forest that surrounded the garden. Inhaling slowly, he raised his hands, curling fingers into the ram hand seal.

"Seal!" Glowing red lines appeared, forming into geometric shapes and esoteric symbols, a massive sealing array with the garden at its center, covering a circular area seven hundred meters in diameter. From the inside, the sight beyond that area appeared rippled, distorted, and otherwise strange.

"You know," He said softly, speaking to the ones hidden in the trees. "I didn't speak of everything that happened in the Land of Iron. About a week before we left, six ronin appeared at the dojo. They challenged all of the students there to duels to the death, and thus slowly slaughtered them. It was to be expected after all, they were only students, while these ronin had lifetimes of training and experience as samurai. Eventually, however, they challenged me. Of course, I wasn't about to let myself get killed, honor or no, so I used not just the skills the dojo taught me, but the ninja training Konoha and Master Sasori taught me. And as I killed each of them, they thanked me. It was strange. Why would they thank their killer?" Naruto mused, as the hidden ones approached him from the forest.

"Eventually, before I left, I asked the dojo's master why they thanked me. He explained that they had been servants of a lord that had been killed in his bed by a ninja, who they had never detected. Usually, a samurai would commit suicide at the dishonor of failing their lord so, but these six didn't have the nerve, and so became ronin who wandered the Land of Iron, challenging samurai until they found one who could defeat and kill them." Naruto continued as the stalkers approached, biting his thumbs with enough force to draw blood and pulling up both his hood and scarf so his face was hidden, and reached down for two scrolls, one on the inner side of his bottom-left row, another on the inner side of his bottom-right row.

"I was struck by just how seriously samurai took their honor, their pledge of servitude to their lord, and I figured, why not get some for myself?" He swiftly drew both scrolls, their parchment billowing out along his thumbs, streaking red blood in a line across the seals.

"And using the ronins' corpses, I created this, my Orange Secret Technique," Bursts of smoke appeared for a moment, obscuring him from the view of the approaching intruders before wafting away to reveal: "Six Samurai Section." The six human puppets were dressed in black clothes, over which they wore samurai armor colored the same shade of orange as Naruto's coat, accented with red. Their helmets completely covered their heads, a black metal plate covering their mouths and noses with two horizontal slits over the nose, a small red decorative block jutting out of the chin, and a similarly decorative piece of black metal molded into a V-shape set into the forehead. Tinted red glass served as eye-pieces under the rim of the helmet, the whole ensemble giving the samurai puppets a distinctly suitable inhuman demeanor.

As did Naruto's dark orange, slit-pupil eyes when he opened them to gaze at the twenty-four Root ANBU now before him. The opposing forces stared at one another, Root in their obscuring cloaks, while Naruto and his puppets were inhumanly still.

One of the Root twitched.

And so too did Naruto's fingers, sending the six puppets flying at the illegal ANBU, some of them drawing their weapons while others still had hands resting on the hilts. Several of the Root ANBU sped through hand seals as the puppets approached before unleashing a firestorm upon them. One of the samurai sped up slightly, hands on its katana and wakizashi before drawing them in a powerful X-shaped slash that drew droplets of water out of the air, cutting into the blasts of flame and extinguishing them instantly as the other five darted past it. Only seven of the Root remained, the others dispersed into the tree-line. Two of them ran at the forward-most puppet, kunai drawn, as the other five fell back more, hand seals rushing.

It was instantaneous. One moment, the two Root were attacking – the next, a howling shriek of wind sounded and they were left in the wake of the samurai, bloody pieces flying everywhere from the instant slash of its katana, which it quickly re-sheathed.

"Iaidō." Naruto intoned. Another of the samurai took the head, a large nodachi in its hands that burned, lit up by flaming chakra flowing through it. A single slice, the chakra emanating out from the blade to cut through all of the other five Root, and the field was clear. From the forest, a draconic missile formed of water rushed for him and his puppets – only to be met by a single samurai, holding a chigiriki – a flail consisting of a long iron pole, chain, and heavy weight. Spinning the weapon, the puppet met the missile head-on. The impromptu shield was angled such that the resulting spray arced up, and then down in a pouring rain.

There was a pause, a hesitation in the flow of combat, before four Root rushed for a samurai hanging slightly back from the rest, a yumi longbow on its back and tantō sheathed at its waist. They were startled by how swiftly the puppet drew its tantō, and even more when lightning-natured chakra flowed through and out of it, arcing and spinning into the form of a buzz-saw – that cut through two of them in an instant and sliced through the arm of a third. That one fell to the ground, convulsing even as the fourth was intercepted by a flaming naginata.

Naruto's emotionless gaze swept through the forest again, searching.

"You can't escape here." He called. "I made this barrier years ago, in case someone wishing to harm me trailed me here. Only a sealing master can escape it without killing me." The samurai drew back, forming into a circle around their master.

The assault of the surviving thirteen Root was quick and silent, the ninja darting out from the trees with kunai and shuriken leading. The samurai puppets weapons masterfully threw aside each projectile, before charging forth.

Six individual fights played out, the daishō-wielding puppet facing three Root as the other five took on their two chosen targets. A stone wall burst from the ground.

_Thank Kami, it came up away from the roses._ Naruto thought, twitching a finger. The puppet sheathed its katana.

"Iaidō: Diagonal Cut."

And lashed out with it. Pure chakra emanated from the blade, slicing through the wall and the ninja maintaining it in one cut. As the two Root left darted to the side, the wakizashi lashed out as well, droplets of water collected from the air to form a super-pressurized whip that bisected the Root ANBU. A last-ditch effort from the last one sent a barrage of flaming kunai at the puppet samurai. Chakra flowed through the pauldron-connected shield on the puppet's shoulders, expanding into a shield that collected more moisture into a whirling wall of water, before that last ninja was sliced through by the katana.

Closer to the forest, the puppet with the single katana, again sheathed at his hip, woodenly stared at its targeted ninja. The Root hesitated, for an instant, before darting around to the sides, circling the puppet and closing in from behind. One drew close…and again a howl burst forth as the samurai drew its katana, and that Root's eyes widened as he saw rotating blades of wind traveling along the katana's blade, in the instant before they met his head. Brain and gory viscera splattered the tree trunks, and the other Root was backhanded across the face, talons of wind opening wounds through the mask and across his cheek. The mask shattered, both the wind talons and the force of the armored gauntlet breaking it to pieces as the samurai skillfully sheathed its katana again, before its boot smashed the Root ANBU's skull into the dirt.

A naginata sliced once, twice, three times, arcs of flame flying into the forest and immolating wild plant life as two Root dodged and darted around them. One of them pulled off his mask, speeding through hand-seals and spitting out three bullets of liquid. The samurai, in an instant, stepped back, switched the naginata's grip to its left hand, and spun the weapon, the staff of it bursting into powerfully hot flames that evaporated the bullets upon contact. The Root barely had time to gasp before the blade stabbed in between his third and fourth ribs and ignited, flames consuming him. The other Root was barely startled by his comrade's horrific death before an arrow lodged itself in his brain cavity.

Twenty meters away, the bow-wielding puppet fired off two more arrows, forcing its targets into hiding behind tree trunks. Lightning chakra flowed through the armor, and the samurai dashed forth, drawing its tantō and slicing out, a buzzsaw once again emanating forth from the short blade and cutting through the tree. The Root leaped from the falling upper boughs, flames flying from his fingertips. Lightning crackled from the puppet, until it pointed two fingers at the falling ninja, sending an arcing bolt flying through his chest. The surviving Root ran down the tree he had taken shelter behind, as the samurai pivoted, sheathing its tantō and drawing two arrows from the quiver on its back. Nocking the arrows, the samurai took aim as the Root jumped forth, fingers stiff in a jab engulfed by flaming chakra. The first arrow jabbed into his sternum, blocked by the bone. The other flew through his throat.

Practically right next to Naruto, the puppet swung its nodachi over its master's head, deflecting a wide spray of shuriken and shadow-shuriken away into the flowerbeds. A meter away, the puppet with the chigiriki met in close combat with two Root wielding their tantō, ducking underneath a sweep of the flail and trying to get close enough to cut the puppet apart. The other two remaining Root members, similarly, were attempting to get around the long reach of the nodachi, behind the samurai and at Naruto. At the moment, all it amounted to was an exercise in futility. And then…an opening presented itself.

A wide sweep from the samurai left its side undefended, and the faster of the two Root members made it past before the nodachi swung back, cutting the other off at the knees and sending him plowing face-first into the dirt. As for the other, he made it to Naruto, leaping over a half-hearted kick from the chunin and aiming a kunai between his eyes…before a chain wrapped around his ankle, pulling him away until the other samurai swung him into the other two Root. The combination of sheer force and the angle where his head struck the ground broke his neck.

The last two Root ANBU climbed to their feet as the samurai returned from their respective engagement, surrounding them in a tight circle, Naruto facing him with his back to the forest.

"Tell Danzo," Naruto ordered slowly, as thought to an idiot, "That I want to meet with him. We have much we can offer one another. However, I won't play the same game the Third does. He betrays me, even passively, and I bring down the Nine-Tails power on him, and the rest of Root." The two Root didn't even try to deny their master's identity, instead running as soon as the samurai opened up the circle.

As they ran, Naruto tapped his chin, a thoughtful expression on his face, before initiating a mindscape entry.

"Tell me," He asked Kurama, "How many men does it take to deliver a message?" As the kitsune grinned, the samurai with the bow drew an arrow, the head humming lowly with the vibration of lightning chakra flow.

**_"One."_**

– Otogakure –

"Otokage-sama."

"Yes?" Otogakure, as a village, had nearly fallen apart in the aftermath of Orochimaru's defeat. Its ninja were of the worst sort the traitorous Sannin could find, from the lowest of missing-nin to base thugs that wouldn't give a rookie genin a challenge. At the most, it had provided him a sufficiently wide pool for test subjects and ninjutsu fodder. The aftermath of the assault on Konoha had sent the village – if a collection of subterranean bases could be called that – spiraling into chaos as the most powerful and intelligent of the lot vied for control. Until an outsider had stepped in, and crushed all the dissenters, sweeping the meeker ones into his camp as he dominated them. Only a year of in-fighting and he'd conquered Otogakure, taking the Otokage hat with few complaints and then setting their forces to work on his own agenda.

"We have news from spies in Konoha. Uzumaki Naruto has returned." The aide, a minor functionary in the restructured bureaucracy, shivered under the gaze of the one eye staring out of the mask.

"Hmm. Good news." Tobi chuckled, fingers steepling before the orange, swirled mask he wore. "Contact Gen'yūmaru, tell him to tell our mutual friends about this." The aide bowed, and rushed out of the room.

"Well, it looks like our lost kit turned up." The newly inaugurated Akatsuki member mused.

– The Author –

Aha! Puppet action, as promised!

Regarding Kurama, there've been a lot of stories that depict it as female (not that I'm complaining *dabs at nosebleed*) although personally I've always thought of the Tailed Beasts as genderless – honestly, the description of 'monstrous constructs of living chakra' doesn't exactly lend them traditional gender identities. Really, it makes them sound more like some sort of energy golem.

A list of the Samurai Puppets:

Akechi Mitsuhide: Wield single katana, uses chakra to make chainsaw-edge. Iaidō specialist. Wind Element Heart  
>Sasaki Kojirō: Wields nodachi, uses chakra to extend reach. Fire Element Heart<br>Miyamoto Nobunaga: Wields daishō, using chakra to extend length of wakizashi and perform 'Diagonal Slash' with katana (See TV Tropes article) Water Element Heart  
>Oda Musashi: Wields yumi (longbow) with back-up tantō, kyūjutsu specialist. Uses chakra to make each arrow highly armor-piercing or make arrows out of chakra. Lightning Element Heart<br>Date Masamune: Wields naginata. Uses chakra to extend reach and generate shields. Fire Element Heart  
>Uesugi Kenshin: Wields chigiriki, specializes in non-lethal combat and capturing, and uses chakra to extendretract chain. Earth Element Heart

I went to Wikipedia for all these names. To imagine them, think of Musha Gundam, except replacing all the white, red and gold with black, orange and red; respectively.

Review Replies:

Orchamus: Refer to some parts of _Scorpion's Disciple _for hints.  
>Hmm, looks like they might not fall apart…or I'm being misleading…<p>

bakapervert: You're welcome.

Kagami Kamiya: I can read it well enough.  
>Yeah…you're probably right…I'm just not the kind of person to wait.<br>Logically speaking, there can't be all too many S-rank missing-nin, or they wouldn't be so special that having an organization made up almost entirely of them would be surprising. As for intelligence, they're not entirely bereft. They just have no idea what the fck is happening to the jinchūriki. Hmm…good idea…  
>Shikamaru and the other Nara are genius tacticalstrategic thinkers. Naruto, here, is just extremely focused and using his medical expertise to pick up the targets' weak points.  
>Thank you.<br>Yo.

grimangel163: Personally, I'm a Naruto x Hinata fan, but given what happened in disciple…yeah.

Peter Kim: This is true.  
>Nope. They think Orochimaru killed him.<p>

aprilliarsv: Thanks.

Infernus87: Thank you.

Tikky Mikk: Thanks.  
>It'll also be rather artistic.<p>

Failing Mentality: Thanks.  
>He might have.<br>Yes, he is. For now. And they only recently revealed his name, although I'm certain there's someone in the fandom that went "yes! I was right!" when it was revealed.  
>Pretty much.<p>

Knightmare Gundam of Ni


	5. Chapter 4: Objective Achieved

Scorpion's Masterpiece

Chapter 4  
><em>Objective Achieved<em>

– Konoha, Bar Hidden in the Drunkards –

Strolling blithely through the streets of Konoha, one Hatake Kakashi, jonin of Konoha, quietly chuckled as he checked the timepiece on his wrist, making it look like he was reading the _Icha Icha Paradise_ book in his hand rather than the time. Certain people would be furious if they knew he actually owned something like that and was still two hours (exactly) late to almost every appointment he'd ever had since the Third Shinobi World War. At first, this had been due to the grief of losing his team-mate Obito…then it had simply become habitual…nowadays he simply did it for the amusement he derived from the infuriated or exasperated expressions of those he was meeting with.

It had also been one of the few things he'd looked forward to when he had to take on a genin team, although only Sakura had overtly displayed any irritation, he still got annoyed twitches and the like from Sasuke and Naruto.

Speaking of which, there was his destination now! The rather cleverly named 'Bar Hidden in the Drunkards'…hope the owner didn't quit his day job.

At any rate, Kakashi checked the time, seeing that he was actually a few minutes early from his traditional late arrival. He slowed down his already slothful pace, even though the doors of the bar were literally only seven meters away. As he did so, he suddenly noted someone right next to him, moving to the same destination. Slowly, Kakashi's head turned, and he noted a similar movement from the other person, until his dark eyes came to face the sky-blue orbs of Naruto. Kakashi's gaze darted up and down the form of his long-lost student, noting the now-expected longcoat and scarf, and the book clutched in one of the chunin's hands. _The Intricacies of A-Rank Sealing_ was the title, and from what Kakashi could see of the material and the ridiculously long and technical terms, it was certainly intricate.

"Yo."

"Yo."

"…bit uncharacteristic of you." Kakashi remarked, referring, of course, to Naruto's tardiness to the event. Usually, the genin – chunin, now – hated being forced to wait, and making others wait.

"I hate waiting more now."

"I see. You figured you'd just show up with me then?"

"Yep."

Kakashi nodded at the logic, and then smirked under his mask.

_Oh, Gai's reaction is going to be good._

Just before they entered the bar, Naruto pulled his headband so that it slanted over his left eye.

Upon their entrance, they were assaulted by a greeting Kakashi had become all too familiar with in the past three years.

"YOU'RE LATE!" Sakura and Ino shrieked in combination, Kiba growled, Sasuke looked blankly over at him and the rest of the chunin basically ignored his late entrance, having had far too long to get used to it by now. Gai and Lee, however, did their habitual green-blur-pop-up-next-to-him thing.

"Kakashi! Your unyouthfulness-" Gai stopped mid-rant when he noticed that Naruto was next to his rival, in virtually the exact same position. "Kakashi! You've spread your unyouthfulness to your student!"

"Naruto-san!" Lee shouted, "I see that you have strived to truly become my rival in all aspects!" There was a moment of silence, as the rest of the room, just as surprised, waited the response.

"Hmm? You say something Gai/Lee?" The two masked ninja chorused, tilting their heads away from their respective tomes. Everyone face-faulted,

_There's that hip attitude of yours Kakashi! _Gai thought, his face screwing up in an expression of frustration and a tight, shaking fist slowly rising to head level. _And you passed it on to Naruto-kun!_ Lee, needless to say, was copying his sensei in every aspect, although it seems that at this point it had gone beyond mere copying, since the reaction was entirely independent and perfectly in sync with Gai.

Then, Naruto righted his headband before pulling down his scarf and hood, a wide grin on his face.

"Just messing with you." He says cheerfully, upon which several of the ninja present groan. Lee was relieved…and somehow, a bit disappointed.

"And I really thought I had my own mini-me there." Kakashi commented.

"Oh, thank Kami!" Sakura groaned. The others around couldn't help but chuckle at the scene.

"Hey! Can we get this party started already?" Kiba demanded. A chorus of agreements later, and the party, a rather simple affair that the ninja of the Leaf, both active and retired, held once in a while to celebrate their continued life, and to remember those gone. Kakashi observed everyone, his own grieving taken up in his time with the memorial stone. The atmosphere was calm and relaxed, and at times sad. Kurenai had attended, although her presence was limited since she spent most of it away from the others, sequestered in a distant corner with a drink in hand. Asuma stood next to her, in silent support.

The former 'Rookie Nine' were gathered in one large clump, whereas the other older and more experienced ninja generally moved around the festivities in smaller groups, sometimes just pairs, most of them sticking with comrades from their genin days or classmates from their graduation. The career of a ninja didn't allow for many to survive for long, and it showed in how even the newest among them had already suffered a loss. Kakashi eyed the newer chunin, keeping track of their interactions with each other. He wasn't sure why, but the Hokage had asked him to observe how Naruto, specifically, was fitting in now that he was back from his training mission.

From what he could see, the blond had easily slipped back into the group, like a puzzle piece fitting into its slot. Well, almost. It was well-hidden, but Sasuke, Kiba, Sakura, Ino and Shino were somewhat cautious around Naruto. He supposed Sasuke and Sakura weren't too surprising. They had never really meshed as Team Seven, even after Naruto's revelation about the Nine-Tails. And Kiba and Shino were all too apparent, Naruto having been close to them and Hinata…they probably didn't want to bring up any memories. But why Ino? From what Kakashi had seen prior to Naruto's departure, the two blonds had gotten on stunningly well.

And then, while he was talking to Shikamaru, Naruto suddenly burst out into a rich, low chuckle of the wickedest sort that even rivaled the effects of one of the Three Legendary Ninja's killing intent.

_Oh Kami-sama._ Kakashi pleaded. _Please let whatever he's thinking off not include pranking me!_

Sadly, it did, as Kakashi and several of the other jonin learned later.

– Land of Whirlpools –

"Ah, Kabuto. So good to see you returned." The dry remark echoed in the chamber, buried under the ruins of the Village Hidden Amongst the Eddies.

"Heh, well, you know the difficulties of dealing with jinchūriki, Sasori-sama." The medic-nin chuckled, preceding the arrival of Gaara and a struggling Yugito into the chamber. The container of the Two-Tails continuously tried to rip herself free of the restraining sand that kept her floating a meter above the floor.

"Gaara, bring her over here." Sasori waved to Gaara, motioning towards a table that had just recently played host to his apprentice. As Gaara passed him, he slapped a seal onto Yugito's face; similar to the one Kabuto had placed on her weeks ago.

"We're lucky Gaara-kun doesn't sleep." Kabuto commented off-handedly. "Otherwise, it would have taken a lot more of those seals to get her here safely." Sasori nodded absently in response. That paralyzing seal was perfectly good for near-permanantly incapacitating any ninja lower than a high jonin, but any above that would be able to resist the effects substantially and eventually regain enough control to rip it off. In the case of jinchūriki, it was good enough to hold them for any time from two months to a day, depending on their Tailed Beast's power and the ability of the containing seal to restrain it. The chakra of the Beasts was too…potent, or wild, for the seal to manage.

As Gaara laid Yugito onto the stone dais, Sasori secured the heavy metal restraints onto her limbs.

"Where are Han and Roshi?" Gaara asked.

"Securing the Six-Tails." Sasori replied. "They have Hidan with them, and a squad of the A-rankers, just in case Akatsuki catches wind of them."

"I see…and Fu?" Gaara's voice actually gained some emotion near the end, a hint of nervousness. Sasori merely glanced at the younger former Sand-nin, a corner of his mouth quirking up slightly before he returned his attention to the bound jinchūriki. At that moment, Gaara heard a strange sound coming closer, and he turned towards the cavern entrance just as a blur darted from it and slammed into him.

"-aaaaaara-kun!" The blur of white and gold squealed, arms lashing out and hugging Gaara around his neck before crashing to the ground atop him. The hood of the cloak flew back, revealing a head of green hair atop a tan face in which was set orange eyes.

"Hello Fu-san." Gaara's voice sounded strangled. Probably because of the arms squeezing around him.

"Mou, Gaara-kun!" The kunoichi straightened, hands going to her hips. "How many times have I told you? Call me chan! Fu-chan!" Then she noticed Yugito, whom Sasori was going over with a needle and ink. "Oh! Is that Matatabi's container?"

"Yes." Gaara replied simply, lying down on the floor. Past experience told him he wasn't getting up unless Fu let him.

"You think she's going to join willingly?" Fu wondered.

"Not sure." Kabuto said to that. "We're not quite sure how well she was received in Kumo, and we didn't exactly get her here in the most peaceable of ways."

"Hmph. So she still might side with those…_humans?_" Fu asked, hissing the last word.

"She might." Sasori said. "But Naruto will change that around when he returns." That was followed by a dark chuckle from Kabuto.

"It sounds so evil when you say it like that, Sasori-sama. All he does is talk."

"That's what you think Kabuto." Sasori smirked, and the expression was twisted enough to make even Kabuto shudder, as inhumanely at ease as he was.

– Shimura Residence –

Danzō sat calmly in his home, sipping tea. It wasn't uncommon for him to do so at times. He was, after all, a 'well-aged' man, and took his time to enjoy his tea, and Danzō most assuredly did enjoy his genmaicha. It was during times like this, in his home protected by the most loyal of Root, where Danzō reflected, and planned.

The Uzumaki jinchūriki's offer was intriguing, to say the least. After the initial message, Danzō had met several times with the boy's curious emissaries. He hadn't even known a contract had existed for that animal, although he wasn't all too surprised, considering who the boy was apprenticed to. At any rate, those meetings had slowly ironed out the fine details of their…alliance. The loss of Squad Twelve, while an annoying waste of assets, was in the end acceptable for the kind of aid the jinchūriki offered. And if he got out of line…well, Danzō had long since prepared measures for that.

The brat had fulfilled his end, providing Danzō with more than enough information on the other Hidden Villages to plot out infiltration and espionage missions for the Root to take care of, even of a certain man in Mizugakure with an…eye…for trouble that Danzō was now planning to take care of. Now, all Danzō had to do was uphold his end, a simple enough act considering how deeply his Root were entwined in the normal ANBU structure.

Then his spine stiffened, as something crawled up his back and onto his shoulder. Danzō's head turned, his gaze resting on his shoulder as the small creature sat there, its many legs twitching and settling into what Root's leader could only assume was something comfortable for it. And then it began to speak. The closest approximation Danzō could find to the way the creature spoke was if a swarm of crickets, all chirping together, somehow made human words out of the cacophony.

"My lord wishes to know if you are prepared."

"Of course." Danzō replied, eyeing the summons. He'd never seen a species with such flamboyant coloration, smudges of orange and red and gold all randomly splattered across it, and remembering the a rule of nature; 'the more colorful the more deadly', he had no doubt it had a particularly lethal poison. "My agents have arranged for them to take post for the evening guard, in all the correct positions to allow your master through with little trouble. The only real obstacles should be the guards immediately outside the room itself."

"They are of no worry. My sister will deal with them." Danzō merely nodded slowly.

"Remind your master that if he gets captured –"

"In the unlikely event," the summons chirped, cutting off Danzō, "That this infiltration is discovered, be assured that my master will not be captured, one way or another. If he is discovered and outed, the Hokage will be discredited, and you will be allowed the chance to achieve your dream, after which my master would be more than willing to resume dealings with you." Danzō couldn't find anything wrong with that. The only one really at risk here was the Uzumaki boy.

"Very well.' Danzō conceded. The summons bobbed on its many legs, presumably an imitation of a bow, before disappearing in a small puff of smoke. Alone again, Danzō returned to his tea. Maybe he would invite Hiruzen for a small meal of hijiki, and reminisce.

– Night-Time, ANBU HQ –

It was the dead of night. Few civilians wandered Konoha's streets at this time, most of those being drunkards or late-night workers. Only ninja really remained active at this time, and even then mostly those assigned patrol and guard duties. And they were mostly chunin who drew the short straw. Thus, when a lone ninja in ANBU uniform wearing an ANBU mask passed by, not one dared question what one of the Hokage's chosen shinobi was doing. A few of them who got a glimpse of the ninja were confused by the animal portrayed, with two moderate-sized black eyes painted on the forehead and three smaller ones on either side edges, the mouth a painted version of an arachnid's mandibles. They quickly pushed aside any concerns, assuming the ANBU was one of those sent out on long-term assignment, only now returning.

The ANBU approached a rather modest building – really, it could have been any ill-kept apartment in the village – and instead of doing anything suspicious or overly sneaky, he simply walked up to the door and knocked. Not even a special knock, just a simple banging on the door. Truly, not the sneaky suspicious route laden with pass-phrases and hidden codes the theorists thought.

Of course, then, the ANBU just disappeared.

Underground, the masked ninja steadied himself, straightening before the similarly masked guards. At this point, ANBU usually gave the password through sign language. This one, however, simply made half of the bird hand seal – a sign the Root-affiliated ANBU recognized instantly. They stepped aside, allowing the scorpion-masked ANBU through. From there, the ninja proceeded through a gauntlet of offices, armories and training areas, eventually reaching a stairway. Along the way, there were posted guards, to which the ANBU repeated the signal, allowing him through without any fuss as the Root sneakily directed him to a room that had been added three years ago. This room, buried underneath the maximum security cells, was guarded not by Root, but by two especially long-serving and experienced ANBU hand-picked by the Hokage himself to guard this specific room.

As the ANBU approached, the guards stepped forward, hands raising – and then the floor exploded up behind them, and an enormous black tail tipped with a javelin-like stinger stabbed through one of the guards, and as the other one turned, an enormous claw snapped around his throat, too blunt to cut through and instead crushing the ANBU's neck into a gory mess that eventually snapped the man's head off.

"Thank you Sasuhime." The ANBU said, maneuvering around the bloody mess the van-sized scorpion left of the two guards. Her exoskeleton was unnaturally black, such that it seemed to suck in the light, and she moved slowly, but certainly, as though she was perfectly aware of everything around her.

"You are welcome Naruto-dono." Sasuhime chirped back. Naruto nodded towards the giant scorpion, even as he stepped onto her back and walked along it, stepping off and heading for the rather thick, metal door set into the stone wall. Behind him, Sasuhime's mandibles clicked and clacked, as her claws dragged bits of the ANBU guards to her mouth, in the process smearing their blood and innards along the floor.

Studying the door, Naruto had to scoff before retrieving a scroll, rolling it out and unsealing an inkpot and a brush, briefly dipping the brush into the inkpot, and then scrawling characters and symbols around the door, onto the stone wall.

"Always make the wall just as tough as the door." Naruto muttered, placing a palm onto the freshly inked seal array and channeling a bit of chakra into it. The seals glowed a sickly green, heat and fumes emanating as the stone simultaneously melted and dissolved. After a moment, Naruto removed his hand, cocked his leg back, and kicked the door. Bereft of the wall's support, the door toppled inward.

Stepping inside, Naruto was faced with a large, empty circular room, and in the center rested a jug, pasted all over with paper seals of various types and origins. While to the untrained eye, these were vastly uncoordinated and messy, Naruto's experience with fuinjutsu and focus seals meant he could clearly see how the paper seals interacted with one another, connected by an array painted directly onto the jug, reinforcing the already present sub-dimensional bounding fields and chakra suppression arrays. He had to admit, the Hokage and Jiraiya certainly knew what they were doing. This set-up could probably hold a Tailed Beast for a long amount of time….

…come to think of it, this set-up was remarkably similar to the one that Suna had used to contain Shukaku in between jinchūriki…hmm…

Naruto entered his mindscape.

"What do you think?" He asked Kurama, as images appeared in the air of what his body was seeing.

**"It certainly looks very much like what Shukaku showed me." **The fox rumbled, studying the jug. **"The only notable difference is that they used an enormous tea kettle, actually."** Naruto just nodded absently, visualizing an array into thin air before two of them. **"Hmm…yes, looks about right…"** Kurama muttered, as Naruto started with the array that transferred Shukaku from the kettle to a chosen host. Erasing large sections of it removed the transference, leaving him with the array to unleash the imprisoned being, all the while writing in symbols and diagrams.

**"No, don't use that! Look at–" **

"Kurama, it was cool to find out members of my clan were your jinchūriki, and that they were masters of sealing, but I don't think that qualifies you as a sealing expert." Naruto muttered.

**"You'd be surprised kit, now take a look at this."** Kurama rumbled, altering the seal with glowing red marks to indicate his suggested changes. A moment of study resulted in a curse from the blond jinchūriki. **"Don't be sad kit, Gyūki got pissed when I was right too."**

"Shut up." Naruto mumbled, returning to reality to write out the array. A few minutes and a pot of ink later and an array of mind-boggling complexity was before him, the sake jug at its center. Taking a deep breath, Naruto formed a hand-seal.

"Release!" The array flared with light, and within, the paper seals burned away, leaving ash behind as the inked array on the jug glowed. For a moment, all was still. And then something erupted from the mouth of the jug, growing and coiling until an enormous white snake was coiled about its former prison.

"Free! I am free!" It rasped, Orochimaru's voice just as twisted as ever. The misshapen head, somewhere between Orochimaru's features and those of a viper, turned to look upon the person standing before the door. In the blink of an eye, the transformed Sannin lashed out – and crashed into a glowing purple barrier that arced from floor to ceiling, the last line of the sealing array.

The serpentine sannin recoiled, literally, facing the person who had released him.

"Release me!" Orochimaru hissed, jaws gaping open.

"I already have." Naruto replied calmly, emotionlessly, unflinching before the six-inch fangs that hovered a meter away. "However, before I let you out of this room, I want something from you."

A frustrated hiss snaked itself out of the gaping maw.

"What do you want?"

"Impure World Resurrection."

– The Author –

Alright, and that's this chapter done, with the dual revelations of Naruto's summons and his objective. Sorry about the shorter chapter, but I'm better getting more words into action sequences, so...

On a vaguely related note, apparently, scorpions actually do sound like crickets. Weird huh? And now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get rid of this creepy-crawly feeling.

Fricking Arachnophobia…

Review Replies:

Fox of the Blood Moon: Thank you.

grimangel163: Thanks.

bakapervert: You're welcome.

Orchamus: Just the reaction I was going for.

Dreadful-life20: I'm glad you enjoy it. I'll try.

renegadeofficer89: Thanks.  
>Apparently, it's supposed to be a shout-out to Yu Yu Hakusho.<br>Oh, there's certainly going to be awesomeness with Naruto when he's using Kurama's chakra

Thou shalt not fear: Well, there was three years of off-screen interaction.  
>Well, like I said in earlier chapters, my style of writing is different from nobody102's.<br>Ergh. I've said before I don't really do pairings, but in this case I guess I'll just do it.  
><strong>SPOILER<br>**Naruto/Hinata.  
><strong>END SPOILER<strong>

roboguy45: You're welcome.

Knightmare Gundam of Ni


	6. Chapter 5: Temptation

Scorpion's Masterpiece

Chapter 5  
><em>Temptation<em>

– Konoha, Hokage's Office, Early Morning –

"So Orochimaru's escaped." Hiruzen growled. "ANBU HQ, supposedly the most secure place in the village behind this very tower, was infiltrated by someone who freed Orochimaru." He took a deep breath. "HOW THE HELL DID THIS HAPPEN!" He thundered, causing the ANBU gathered before him to cringe.

"We…" One ANBU Captain gulped. "We can't be sure, Hokage-sama. There are no signs of infiltration other than the dead guards that were posted at the cell's door, and none of our other guards reported anything out of the ordinary." For a moment, he shuddered under the stern gaze of the Hokage, before Hiruzen just sighed and leaned back in his chair, rubbing his eyes.

"And you didn't discover this until an hour ago?"

"Y-yes Hokage-sama."

"Why?"

"That was when the next shift was supposed to take position."

"…get out. And send Jiraiya in while you're at it." The ANBU quickly filed out the door, and a moment after the last exited, the Toad Sage entered, for once taking the door instead of the window. Hiruzen's student had what most would consider to be an uncharacteristically serious expression on his face.

"So the snake bastard's out then." Jiraiya said with a weary tone. "Just when I thought we'd finally taken him down…"

"His accomplice must have been a sealing master." Hiruzen said. "That seal was good enough to hold a Tailed Beast, and we worked enough fail-safes in there to blow the entire ANBU HQ…do you think it was Naruto?" The two kage-level ninja paused at that thought, and shuddered.

"I hope not." Jiraiya muttered. "If he did…then it's all too possible that Orochimaru's already dead." Hiruzen looked up sharply at that.

"What do you mean?"

"That technique of his – Living Corpse Reincarnation – forces him out of his current body and into his true form of a Great White Serpent. In order to take over another person's body, he has to conquer their mind."

"I see. And Naruto's mindscape contains the Nine-Tail's cage –"

"Which means that if Orochimaru tried to take over Naruto, he'd have to face both Naruto and the Nine-Tails." Jiraiya finished.

"So, if Naruto is the one who released Orochimaru, we have at least two plausible scenarios." Hiruzen speculated. "The first – Naruto released Orochimaru, and the snake tried to take over his body. In that case, I think it would be safe to say that Orochimaru would be truly dead then."

"Yep." Jiraiya nodded.

"The second – Naruto released Orochimaru, and he _didn't_ try to take over his body. Instead, Naruto already brought a host, or released Orochimaru to find his own host." The two – student and teacher – looked at each other with looks of horror.

– Naruto's Apartment –

In the three years Naruto had been gone from Konoha, it was almost inevitable that his old apartment would be targeted by any one of his naysayers and civilian detractors. So, when he returned, he'd just told the Hokage to sell his old apartment off. There hadn't been anything important in it when he'd left, since he'd gotten into the habit of sealing anything important to him away in scrolls that he always carried on his person.

And then, using an intermediary who usually worked with ninjas to provide them with residences that would be unknown to the general populace, he'd bought a new apartment. It was simple, with a small living room, a kitchen/dining room, bathroom and bedroom, just the right size for a single occupant. And, naturally, it was trapped down to the nails that held the wooden planks. A modified storage array was painted on the living room's sealing that, when tripped by a contact seal right in front of the door, would release a storm of senbon – each coated in one of twenty-nine different lethal poisons. The windows had seals painted on the latches that, when released, would unleash a rather large amount of lightning-natured chakra that would stun whatever intruder was entering from that angle. And the hallway outside his apartment door was strewn with seals that reacted differently depending on the amount of chakra the one tripping on them had, specifically each one was set to respond to an amount of chakra that surpassed built-in thresholds and produced sounds that were virtually the same as a loose floorboard squeaking. The only differences were minor changes in frequencies that only a person with a sharp ear would discern.

A person like Naruto.

So, when he was awoken from his rather short slumber by a loud squeak from outside his door, the chunin was instantly alerted as to this intruder.

_Three chakra sources, each high-genin to low-chunin level. _He calculated, tuning into the chakra scanner seal engraved into his right eye-socket. The scanner seal was basically a sensor seal like the one he first made, except trading range for discerning capability. With it, Naruto could differentiate between different kinds of chakra, such as the five elements, demon and medical chakra, as well as the chakra of individual ninja, although that took a great deal of concentration to do, especially with people he didn't know all that well.

So, using it, Naruto found that the three people outside his apartment right now were Konohamaru and his team-mates.

Naruto slipped silently out of his bed, retrieving his coat and scarf from the wall hangings where he left them and putting them on. Checking his clock as he went to the bedroom door, Naruto found that it was pretty much about the time he got up anyway. At any rate, he simply proceeded with his normal morning routine, eating a simple breakfast of cereal, and exiting the front door afterwards.

He barely took three steps after locking the door before Konohamaru leaped at him from the ceiling. The genin, however, aimed a bit too high letting Naruto simply duck under his fist, twitching a finger and attaching a chakra string to one of the scarf-tails, manipulating the cloth until it wrapped lightly around Konohamaru's throat. A light tug sent the genin choking down to the ground, and as for his team-mates, they were dealt with just as easily.

Naruto side-stepped the girl's blow and tripped the other boy – _what were their names…oh yeah Moegi and Udon._

"That would have gotten me," Naruto said to the team, "if I were a civilian. Given that you guys are genin though, I suppose it was decent enough; for kids who haven't had time to develop the necessary degree of operational paranoia." Konohamaru shrugged Naruto's now-limp scarf tail off, massaging his throat as he gave the chunin a dirty look.

"Hmph. I guess it's to be expected my rival grew so much over three years." He growled…sort of. "And what happened to not holding back!"

"Well, I figured you couldn't handle it…" Naruto grinned. "But if you insist…" His hand whipped about, and three kunai speared the genin through each of their heads.

And they puffed into smoke.

It was simple enough for Naruto to weave around, the chakra strings attached to the kunai's rings pulling the small knives around in a fan of blades that passed barely half a centimeter in front of the three real genin's widening eyes as they stumbled back from their attempted attack. This provided an opening for Naruto to hook chakra strings from his free hand to the tenketsu in their ankles and tug hard. The result was the three kids falling rather pathetically on their rears, dropping the kunai they'd been wielding.

"Better, but still not good enough." Naruto judged. "Who's your sensei again? Ebisu, right? Man, he needs to work on your skills." Their answer was a chorus of groans. "Actually, now that I think about it, why don't I help him out there?" Konohamaru and his team adopted looks of terror.

"Oh! No, no aniki! You don't need to do that!" Konohamaru said nervously, a pleading note quite apparent in his voice. "W-we're fine, right guys?"

"Oh, but I **_insist_**." Naruto chuckled darkly. Seeing the three genin's reactions, he had to give Kurama kudos. Applying a variant of the physique enhancement technique to his vocal chords added just the right amount of darkness to his voice for intimidation was a genius idea.

– An Hour Later –

It was that time of the day, sometime between seven and nine in the morning, when Mitarashi Anko visited her favorite establishment – a particular bar that sold dango. This was both a blessing and a curse for the proprietor – first, Anko spent quite a lot of money on his dango, such that if one were to compare her average dango bill with that of Naruto's average ramen bill, one would find them to be startlingly similar. Second, Anko's mere presence drove away any and all other potential customers for hours; a result of the combination of her actual violently sadistic personality, and the rumors that blew it way out of proportion.

The end result was the bartender spending as much as four hours alone in his establishment, with Anko hovering over him, making him constantly fear for his life if his dango – a recipe he was rather proud of – fell short of her expectations.

Luckily for him though, Anko's daily enjoyment of her favorite food (closely followed by red bean soup) was interrupted by the delicious sound of agonized screaming.

"OH KAMI WHY!"

"AH! I'M CUT! I'M BLEEDING!"

"RUN FASTER!"

"Now _that _sounds interesting." Anko mused, flicking a roll of hundred-ryo notes onto the bar before darting out to the street, just in time to be nearly run over by a trio of little squirts that almost instantly huddled behind her, grabbing her trade-mark trenchcoat and trying to cower behind it.

"What the-" Anko barely managed to spout out those two words of surprise before a figure in a dark orange long-coat dropped in front of her. Standing before her, his eyes fixed on the three genin shivering behind her, was Naruto, fingering a kunai in a way that left little doubt as to his intentions with it.

"Now, now, Kono-chan, Moe-chan, Udo-chan; that's not how this works. This is _Evasion and Escape training_, not cowering practice!" Naruto said, with a grin apparent in his voice. A malicious, bloodthirsty grin that Anko found to be eerily similar to her own when she got in 'the mood'.

_Maybe I rubbed off a bit too much on him back then?_ Anko pondered. _Nah._

"Yo Naruto," She greeted with a toothy grin. "Where you been? I've been feeling so lonely without you around!" She added a little whine to her voice, aiming for that extra sense of familiarity that tended to sell the image. "All alone, night after night…" She almost literally felt the three kids behind her pause in shock, and a small glance behind showed that they weren't quite innocent enough to miss the implications, considering the blushes they sported.

"Not now Anko, I have to teach the kids a lesson." Naruto advanced slowly, twirling the kunai around his finger by its ring. The genin recovered from their embarrassment and resumed cowering.

"Aw, come on Naru-kun." Anko cooed. "They're so young; surely you can let them off the hook?"

"Oh please," Naruto snorted, "You did worse to me when I was ten and I managed! These kunai aren't even poisoned!" He paused. "I think…" He pulled his scarf down and gave the kunai in his hand a tentative lick. "Nope! Not poisoned."

"You know that doesn't make it any better, Naru-chan." Anko breathed sultrily, leaning towards the blond. He'd always been a little asexual, and she was hoping that he'd be a bit more vulnerable now that he was older.

"Sorry Anko-chan, but I gotta do it." Nope, still resistant to her charms.

"Hey, what's the skanky lady doing?" Anko froze.

"I dunno, but whatever gets aniki off our backs is good for me!" The three genin froze when they realized their impromptu shield had turned and was staring at them disturbingly.

"Uzumaki-san," Anko began, "I believe I now agree with your decision to train these beginning ninja. In fact, why don't I help you with their _Evasion and Escape training?"_

"Be my guest." Naruto said, bowing before her. Anko drew a kunai. Konohamaru gulped.

The chase lasted another hour, the genin screaming and ducking flying kunai from the two older ninja, until they eventually decided the genin had had enough and let them crawl off to whatever their sensei had planned for them.

That left Naruto and Anko alone, hanging around Konoha's…less-than-moral district, perched atop a fairly generic roof. There was an awkward silence for a while, until Anko cleared her throat nervously, something that instantly caught Naruto's attention, since Anko wasn't really one to do things in any sort of nervous fashion.

"I…never got to thank you for helping me." She said, shifting a little on her perch on the edge of the roof.

"Don't worry about it." Naruto replied quietly. He was leaning on an air-conditioning unit. "You're one of my close friends. I'd do anything to help." Anko had to chuckle at that, a light smile playing across her lips. After a moment though, it fell.

"Why'd you leave?" She saw her old student/buddy tense up, before seeming to gather it all up and release it one sigh. And he told her. About meeting Sasori, and how the puppet-master had managed to teach him enough that he could function more-or-less correctly enough that he actually made some real friends at the academy. He told her about Sasori and Kabuto's training (generalizations, of course. He liked Anko, but he wasn't about to reveal any secrets just yet.) All the way up until he'd met her.

"…And after you, everything kind of started going downhill." Naruto said. "Sure, I graduated from the academy, but then I got assigned to Team 7 with Sasuke and Sakura."

"Yeah, I remember that." Anko snorted. "If I recall, that was one of the many topics you whined about whenever we met up."

"Hey! I did not whine!"

"Sure you didn't."

"Hmph. Anyway, I didn't figure it out until after I left, but it turned out that Kakashi was actually ordered not to teach us much of anything – apparently, people were worried about me going all 'Nine Tails of Death' on the village back then, and Sasuke was considered a big psychological risk back then. In retrospect it was justifiable," He admitted, "But at the time it still rankled. I'd finally gotten in the ninja program you know, and then it turned out I was learning less from my assigned jonin-sensei than I was from anyone else!"

"Must have been frustrating." Anko commented.

"Oh it was." Naruto scowled. "And then there was the Wave mission, and you know what happened from that. I didn't begrudge you guys or the Old Man for trying to get info out of me – I was rather suspicious after all. But then the Chunin Exam…and the preliminaries…I was…yeah." He said lamely, unable to come up with a description strong enough. "When the Old Man sent me off with Jiraiya to find Tsunade, and clearly trying to get me away from Neji…Well, that was pretty much the last straw. We got attacked by Suna, and then the Akatsuki, and then Orochimaru…and Sasori showed up with Kabuto and his puppets and helped out. And when he asked…I went." Anko stared at him. "I guess…Sasori and me…are like how you and Orochimaru used to be." He flinched back from her snarl. "Except that when he asked…I went."

The silence returned with a vengeance then.

"I'm not staying Anko." Naruto blurted out.

"**_WHAT!_**" She shouted, turning on the orange-clad ninja.

"For one thing, I'm a target, and I'm endangering Konoha by staying." He said bluntly. "You remember what I said about Akatsuki back then, right? Well they're not gone, and they're still just as big a threat as ever. If they come here, chasing me…they might lose overall, but the losses…I may not care that much for the village as a whole, but I still have friends here. For another…I have a goal I have to accomplish."

"Like what!" Anko snapped.

"I can't tell you." Naruto replied, a bit sadly. "Not unless you're coming with me." She stopped, and stared at him, and he stared back. They held the look for a long time before Naruto sighed.

"I only came back for two things." He said. "I've already gotten one of them, and with how things are going, I'll likely have the other within a week. You'll have until then to decide whether you're going to come with me…or tell the Hokage. But before then," He smiled, in the face of her glare, "I have a gift for you. Tell me, what did they say happened to Orochimaru?"

"They killed him." Anko replied, wondering at what Naruto was getting at…before she caught the grin on his face. "Or…"

"They didn't." He said smugly. "They couldn't figure out how to put him down permanently, so they had to seal him away. I found him, and I released him, and then recaptured him." His grin grew wider at the look on Anko's face. "Do you want to see him?"

She nodded mechanically, and Naruto rapidly flashed through an all-too familiar set of hand-seals.

– Naruto's Mindscape –

Anko blinked, and looked around, stunned and shocked by the sudden transition from a sunny morning in Konoha to a cloudy, war-torn battlefield littered with the wooden corpses of puppets.

"Welcome," Naruto said, appearing before her, "To my mind." He stretched out his arms, gesturing to the landscape. Anko looked around again.

"Kind of empty, isn't it?"

**"That's what I said years ago."** A deep, growling voice said behind her. She froze.

"Is that-"

"Yep."

"And it's right behind me."

"Yep. If you're going to look, I'd suggest you get it over with quickly. In my experience, the anticipation just makes it worse." Following his advice, Anko took a deep breath, and turned quickly, and in doing so, came face-to-nose with the Nine-Tailed Fox.

_Shit. He's big. _Anko gasped mentally. She'd never actually seen the fox herself, having been both too young and too far away in the shelters when the Tailed Beast had attacked Konoha, although like everyone else she'd felt his chakra cover the land with that feeling of malevolence and hate. Their eyes were fixed on each other, Anko's light-brown to the Fox's slit-pupil blood-red. Then the fox inhaled deeply, bringing up a breeze that ruffled Anko's hair and swept her coat around.

**"I like her kit." **The fox rumbled. **"She smells deeply of blood, like a good huntress. You should mate with her, she'll give you a good litter."**

Both Anko and Naruto choked, startled by the sudden statement.

"Kurama!" Naruto shouted. "You can't just go and say stuff like that! AND STOP CALLING ME KIT!"

Anko, mostly recovered from the surprise (and filing away the incident for future teasing material) noticed the fox – er, Kurama – separated from her and Naruto by a ring of puppet soldiers, and inside the same ring was a cage with a certain slithering occupant.

"Is that…"

"Yeah, it is." Naruto confirmed. "That's Orochimaru's true form. He uses it to take other people's bodies, and tried to do that to me when I released him. Fortunately, I was prepared for it. It also kind of helped that he didn't know it was me at the time." Anko, in a trance, stepped through the ring of puppets, walked to the cage. Inside, the white serpent was frozen in a sort of stasis, maw open for a scream. "I originally got him so that Sasori could get his revenge on him – apparently, Orochimaru screwed him over good – but, if you want to…I'll let you deal with him now…it's not like Sasori would mind, since he just wants Orochimaru dead in a way that he orchestrated…and since I'm involved…" Anko didn't answer, clenching her hands as she stared at the distorted face of her old master.

– Land of Fire, Akatsuki Hideout –

_"You are certain of this?"_ Leader's image demanded, rippled purple eyes boring into Gen'yūmaru. The Sound-nin, who while stronger than the average Oto jonin was much, much, much weaker than any of the S-class missing-nin whose images surrounded him, shuddered under that harsh glare.

"Y-yes, Leader-sama." He stuttered. "Tobi-dono is certain – our agents in the Leaf have confirmed his presence. He's been there for about a month now, taking on various missions."

_"So, the Nine-Tails has returned…and the One-Tail?"_ Leader queried, turning now to Itachi's image, ignoring Gen'yūmaru's sigh of relief.

_"Unfortunately Leader-sama, there has been no mention of him or any of the other missing Jinchūriki."_ Said the rogue Uchiha. _"The only new information since our last meeting that our network has turned up is a startling decrease in the number of missing-nin available for hire in the underworld."_

_"Missing-nin disappearing?"_ Leader seemed to frown. _"What of it?"_

_"While usually," _Itachi began, _"Such disappearances would merely mark the appearance of a new and particularly skilled bounty hunter or similar force; those usually result in a weeding out of the lesser missing-nin. These missing-nin going…missing, however, are of the long-runners, those who have been long separated from their Hidden Villages and managed to survive and thrive in the wilds. Some of them are ones we were beginning to consider for recruitment."_

_"And what conclusions have you drawn from this?"_

_"From what I can tell, it resembles the time when Akatsuki first formed, with high-level missing-nin temporarily leaving the scene. I suspect we'll be seeing them soon, only working for a certain organization."_

_"Yūgure…we'll need to secure the Nine-Tails before they become a factor in this. Deidara, Juugo, Itachi and Kisame, you will engage and apprehend the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki."_ Leader ordered. Around the chamber, the various remaining members reacted differently, Deidara crowing in glee and Kisame giving a sharky grin, while Itachi remained as stern as ever and Juugo merely bowed.

They had been given their orders. Now, to carry them out.

The holographic images of Akatsuki shimmered and disappeared, leaving Gen'yūmaru alone. The Oto-nin let out a sigh of relief. He didn't think there was a technique that could affect people over such communications, but then again, he'd never seen eyes like that. And spending the better part of a decade imprisoned by Orochimaru gave a person a healthy respect for the strangeness of ninja and the techniques they used.

"Well, that seemed productive!"

"Gah!" Gen'yūmaru shrieked, jumping up and twisting around to see Tobi standing behind him. "Otokage-sama! Please don't do that!"

"Mah, Gen-chan, you should be more alert." Tobi scolded. "What if I had been Orochimaru? Then your little bum would be so sore right now!" Gen'yūmaru felt a drop of sweat roll down his forehead. _This_ laid-back, childish guy was the one who conquered the Village Hidden by Sound? And second…

"Eh, Otokage-sama? Why are you here?" Tobi froze.

"Oh no! Tobi should be back at village! Tobi is a bad boy!" He wailed, before disappearing into nothing via the rather spine-tingling space-time…thing that he used to travel, reality seeming to collapse in a whirlpool with his right eye as the center, taking Tobi with it.

– The Author –

Alright, finally, another chapter out. It's funny, I had fifteen hundred words done three days after I posed the Devil of Zero chapter, except then we had to uproot all the carpeting in the house…have you ever smelled a decade's worth of cat urine? It's not conducive to writing, let me tell you, especially when you have to lug it around for an hour.

Anyway, onto less disgusting and better things, this story's on TV Tropes! Kinda. Alright, it's two lines in Scorpion's Disciple's main page and a single line added to three tropes, but hey, it's the first time anything of mine's been included on TV Tropes, so I feel rather pleased (even if the only reason that it happened is because this is a sequel to Disciple.)

Now that my ego's been a little assuaged, I've gotta address the Naruto/Hinata thing. I'll admit, I had plans, as ephemeral as they were, to resurrect Hinata soon – you don't give a guy stuff like Impure World Resurrection and One's Own Life Reincarnation and expect him to not make use of it – But after seeing the rather heated responses (Yes, I understand all the points you guys had, but I do in fact have answers for each and every one you might raise – The only thing keeping me from being insulted that you guys would think I'd leave such important details hanging is that none of you know me personally) I've decided to put it off. I still consider this to be a Naruto/Hinata story, even if it's only in that Shakespearian tragedy sense.

On a side-note, I find it astonishing how many stories give Naruto a big huge angst in how Konoha treats him. I've read everything from yearly beatings to fricking rape, and while those same stories often compensate the kid by giving him uberness, it's kind of distasteful, in my opinion. Sure, it's fun to read about him wtfpwning, but the images sometimes aren't worth it.

As a side-note to the side-note (Recursion!) I wonder if there are any stories that power up not just Naruto, but other characters…I mean, someone like Kakashi, or Iruka. In Kakashi's case, you could just have him use more of his supposed 'thousand techniques' that he's copied over his career. For an Elite Jonin like him, he's surely encountered scores of useful techniques of various ranks just by engaging in combat with his Sharingan active, and while we haven't been given any solid figures, surely he could use several middle-rank techniques together instead of his constantly-draining Sharingan, right? And a thousand copied techniques gives him an extraordinarily big pool to choose from – not to mention being fanfic bait for original techniques.  
>As for Iruka, I've always toyed around with the concept of him actually being a crouching moron, hidden badass sort of guy, capable of schooling (snerk) even Kakashi, but staying a chunin just because he enjoys teaching (Badass Teacher).<p>

Review Replies:

roboguy45: Yeah, well, Orochimaru was kind of more important.

renegadeofficer89: Kurama, from Yu Yu Hakusho, was a demon fox that possessed a human kid or something, and apparently merged with him, creating a composite between his original demonic nature and a kinder human outlook. He had powers over plant life, I think. I'm not too sure on the details, since I never actually watched Yu Yu Hakusho.  
>They're a part of it, yes.<p>

GLJ: Never played League of Legends. Sasuhime actually comes from the Japanese words for stinger and princess. So, 'Stinger Princess'.  
>Thank you.<p>

Jigoku no Yami: Well, it's actually more like _Naruto_ who's collecting…  
>I'll do that.<p>

bakapervert: You're Welcome.

Tikky Mikk: I'm actually not entirely sure about that, since Canon Kabuto(maru)'s Impure World Resurrection seems rather different from Orochimaru's, and then there's the whole genetic merging thing, and then there's the fact that Naruto's a bit of a sealing/medical expert himself that may or may not play into how they use it here.

Fan: Danzo's kind of a neutral figure in my opinion. If I had to go by D&D, I'd say Chaotic Neutral, doing bad, illegal things for good intentions and all that. And he kind of has a thing for seeing the forest instead of the trees, but otherwise he'd be OK, if he didn't have the whole ROOT thing.

Lucifer's Remnants: Er, why Kushina?

monkeysrockdude: Like I've said before, I don't really do pairings well, so there probably won't be any big relationship (especially given that she's still, you know, dead) and as I said above, I kind of see it more in a Romeo/Juliet thing (especially given that Naruto still kind of wants to kill her cousin in revenge).

naruto-lost-deathnote: Thanks (And like I said above, I totally have an answer for that point).  
>Sake Jug, actually, but I digress.<br>I say that Akatsuki isn't incompetent in and of themselves – they're certainly still scary, overpowered S-Rank Missing-nin – I just haven't gotten around to showing them in actual action yet. That'll change soon.

neoslucius: I took the names from the Samurai page on Wikipedia and mixed and matched them.

Knightmare Gundam of Ni


	7. Chapter 6: Baited

Scorpion's Masterpiece

Chapter 6  
><em>Baited<em>

– Konoha, Hokage's Office, Late Afternoon –

Hiruzen sighed, an action he found himself doing far, far, far too much recently and let his head fall with a loud _thunk _on top of his desk, the Hokage's Hat toppling off of his head and resting on the desk as well.

"Getting tired of the job Hiruzen? I'd be happy to take over if you retire."

The eldest Sarutobi's head snapped back up_ (OW! Dammit, I'm gonna feel that for the next week!)_ Standing there in the doorway was the one-eyed bane of his life, Shimura Danzō, smirking at the sight of the Leaf's esteemed Hokage lying down on the job.

"Danzō." Hiruzen sighed, leaning back in his chair. "What are you here for?" Danzō walked up and sat down in the chair normally kept there for those meeting the Hokage.

"I am here about the Nine-Tails host...Uzumaki Naruto." Hiruzen, taken aback, eyed the ROOT Leader with disbelief. That was virtually the first time Danzō had ever referred to Naruto by name. Previously, it had always been 'jinchūriki', 'host' or rarely, 'boy'. Never anything that would admit that Naruto had individuality, identity, or a fate beyond that as the village's most powerful weapon. For Danzō to do so meant something, as the man hardly said or did anything without reason, and was careful with his words.

"What about him Danzō?" The Third asked lowly, fixing his rival and on-again, off-again friend with a cold stare.

"I want to suggest that you give him a traveling license, as Jiraiya has."

Had Hiruzen been drinking, there would have been a powerful spray of liquid that would have soaked Danzō head-to-toe.

"W-what!" He sputtered. "Why in the world would I do that! Naruto needs to stay here in Konoha-"

"So that you can continue to observe and study him to see if he's a criminal and traitor still?" Danzō frowned at the expression on Hiruzen's face. "Oh please Hiruzen, don't be so surprised. It's pathetic. You didn't really expect me to believe that 'three year training mission' trash, did you? It was plainly obvious, after all of your manipulations, that the boy grew fed up and left. I was surprised to learn that he was being taught by Sasori, but that was the only real shock in the situation." The Hokage merely stared, before slumping.

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised." He muttered. "You are you, after all."

"Indeed."

"Still, Naruto must be watched, and that is best done in the village. The missions are for his and the village's benefit, to make it seem as though he was fully accepted back."

"And who do you think you're fooling with that?" Danzō demanded, receiving a sigh and a bitter smile in return.

"Certainly not Naruto." Hiruzen muttered. He was getting more and more shocks. This conversation was the most he and Danzō had talked peacefully in decades, and the elder of the two (Not that one would know that, judging merely by appearance.) was the most emotive he'd been since Tobirama-sensei's death.

"Precisely. He knows that you and the others of your little conspiracy are still suspicious of him, and he's come back only to obtain something or complete some objective of his, whatever that may be. The current situation is one that he can end at any moment - and when the opportunity comes, he will do so without hesitation, have no doubt about that."

"And what do you suggest I do about that?" Hiruzen snapped. "Giving him a traveling license will only connect Konoha to whatever crimes and atrocities he might commit in the world! The village's reputation is still stained from the horrors Orochimaru committed, even though we disavowed him as a shinobi of the Leaf and labeled him a missing-nin!"

"I believe you might be over-reacting somewhat Hiruzen." Danzō said, smirking again at the repeated gawk. "While you might not have wished for this outcome, the results of Uzumaki's upbringing, Sasori and all, have produced what is perhaps the perfect blending of our respective goals for him. He is not emotionless or without morality, and retains the determination from his childhood days. He is capable of being ruthless when required of his duties, as seen in the reports of him prior to his departure, and does not shy from killing. The only issue is his loyalty."

Hiruzen had to admit, they probably couldn't have made such a psychological chimera composed of each other's ideals if they'd tried. However...

"And what of Sasori? He most likely holds the majority of Naruto's loyalty, and if he should-"

"Sasori is hardly a threat to Konoha." Danzō snorted. "In fact, I am assured that he is no threat to any shinobi village at all. I've read psychology reports on him from several villages' archives–"

"I don't doubt that."

"– and his obsession with art most likely extends to Naruto, who as his apprentice is perhaps a piece of art as well. Maybe even a masterpiece. And when an artist creates a masterpiece, what does he do with it?" Hiruzen contemplated Danzō for a moment. "He takes it on a tour, to show the world his genius. I don't doubt Uzumaki's tale of Sasori leaving him to his own devices. The Red Sand likely does have Uzumaki's utmost respect and loyalty - that is after all, natural for a student and his master - but I doubt that he will actually use it for anything harmful to us so long as we don't provoke him." Danzō further explained.

"And so, your...scheme?"

"Uzumaki still has ties here in Konoha." Danzō leaned forward. "That much is certain, and you yourself have made use of those ties in that group of chunin you formed. What we need to do is to add more ties, more connections, and earn his trust. Giving him a traveling license will show that, despite his desertion, you still trust him to do the village right, even unsupervised. And perhaps," Danzō added as Hiruzen thought, "A bit of an apology for restricting him so long ago."

"This is all well and good," The Hokage said, "But thus far you've only mentioned Naruto and I - what of the village leaders? The civilian guilds, the shinobi council and ANBU Commander–"

"You ARE the Hokage, are you not?" Danzō asked. "What right have they to challenge you? If they make trouble, deal with them. Although I suppose I could counteract them with my connections."

Hiruzen hesitated, but then sighed and nodded.

"I believe your suggestion to be sound, and favorable to both the village and Naruto."

"Perfect. Naruto has his freedom for his goals, and the village has the perfect weapon - untraceable, quick, and by all accounts, devastating." Danzō smugly stated, making Hiruzen want to punch his old friend just to shut him up.

Danzō left then, the old ROOT Leader had a knowing smirk on his face.

_Uzumaki Naruto...You might be the one to do it. _

Danzō had a dream. It was pure, and simple in its concept.

To create peace in the world, by uniting all of the shinobi in it under Konoha's rule.

The original plan had been conceived some years after Hiruzen became the Third Hokage. The choice Senju Tobimura, the Second Hokage, had made still rankled back in those days, but Danzō had to admit Hiruzen made a decent leader. Still, for his dream, Danzō would have to be Hokage, and so he'd began laying the foundations for him to become leader back then, which would in turn serve as the foundation for his dream.

But, it never panned out. Despite his efforts, Hiruzen had chosen that youth, Namikaze Minato as the Fourth, and had re-assumed the mantle of Hokage after the blond seal master's death.

As a practical man, Danzō admitted that he was getting too old, perhaps such that he would never see his dream accomplished, be it by his hands or another's. Certainly too old to make any reasonable progress towards it at this point, even if he did take the seat. But...

In the past, when Naruto had been the bumbling fool, he'd seen the boy as little more than a useless waste, squandering the time he had on foolishness rather than refining the power he held as the Nine-Tails' vessel. Now, however, the boy - no, the shinobi, had cunning and skill to use that power, the ability to fool those around him almost flawlessly, and the ruthlessness to do what needed to be done.

Yes...Naruto was a perfect candidate to fill Danzō's shoes.

_I'll help you fulfill your old dream of becoming Hokage, Uzumaki...whether you still want it or not._

– An Hour Later –

An hour after Danzō left Hiruzen's office, the Hokage called Naruto up.

"Hey Old Man!" The blond greeted Hiruzen with a smile...well, he though the did, it was kind of hard to tell with that scarf over his lower face.

"Naruto." The Hokage nodded in return with a smile.

"So, what's up?"

"First Naruto, how are you finding Konoha now, after three years away?" The old man asked, leaning forward and clasping his hands together atop his desk.

"Well," Naruto said, scratching his head, "It's kind of nice seeing everyone from my class again - though, for some reason, Kiba doesn't seem to like me all that much - but other than that..." He sighed. "It's not that much different than before I left. Actually, with some of the civilians, it's even worse." He shrugged at that. "Guess absence doesn't always make the heart grow fonder."

"I suppose not." Hiruzen muttered. "At any rate, I want to give you a traveling license." Naruto blinked.

Once.

Twice.

Then his eyes hardened.

"What's this about Old Man?"

"Consider it," Hiruzen sighed, "An apology. For everything you went through before you left." He awaited for the blond ninja's response. Naruto stared at him, with cold, flinty blue eyes, until the chunin sighed and sat down in the chair in front of the Hokage's desk.

"I'll level with you Old Man." He said. "I never intended to stay in Konoha." The Hokage's gaze locked firmly onto Naruto. "I only came back because I wanted to find Neji, and to see how everyone was doing. After that, I was just going to leave and get on with my plans. Which I'm going to have to change now, come to think of it." He mused.

"You were planning on harming Konoha!" Hiruzen asked, shocked.

"Not really, no." Naruto said, sheepishly rubbing his head. "But some of the things I was planning on doing, if I did them now, would more than likely have rather...negative consequences on Konoha's rep."

"Like what?"

"Eh, nothing to worry about anymore, really..."

"LIKE WHAT?"

"Like, ah, maybe...invading-the-other-shinobi-villages-cough." Naruto muttered.

"**WHAT!**" The Hokage, again, stared at Naruto, who was sheepishly scratching his head, again. "You know what? Nevermind. I don't want to deal with it. At any rate, there's another mission for you here." Naruto glanced up sharply at that. "As I'm certain you're aware of, Hyuuga Neji disappeared from the prison two years ago. No one has ever figured out how, as there are no signs of any doors being opened, and only his manacles were left, but recently, I've received information that he's been sighted in the main complex of Otogakure."

Hiruzen was quite aware of Naruto's interest, the blond having reassumed a piercing ice-cold glare.

"Other information has stated he is to lead a team of Oto-nin into the Land of Fire, to begin sabotaging its economy through the destruction of major trade and manufacturing villages. Your mission," Here Hiruzen handed Naruto the mission scroll, "Is to stop that, and capture Neji - listen to me Naruto, _capture_ him, and bring him here for trial." Naruto glared at the Hokage coldly, for several long seconds. For a moment, Hiruzen feared that he was going to refuse.

Then Naruto sighed, and nodded his assent.

"Good. You are to leave tomorrow."

– Next Day, Village Gates –

It was early morning, and Naruto was itching to be off.

He was assigned another mission, and this time with a larger team - everyone that had come to pick him up about a month ago, as a matter of fact. Ino, Kiba, Sakura, Sasuke, and Shino. It was a bit different than the usual 'three-man team' set-up normally used, but then Naruto figured that they and the old man were getting more cautious after that display with the Bakegitsune Puppet as the 'Avatar of Kurama'.

"Hey Naruto!" He turned and saw Sakura jogging up, Sasuke and the others close on her heels.

"Yo Sakura!" Naruto said, raising a hand and imitating Kakashi's 'eye-smile' with both optical organs, noting how she stalled and shivered before forging on and standing before him.

Man, he loved messing with them like that.

"So, where are we going?" Sakura asked.

"Some trade village in the north." Naruto said, taking out the mission scroll from yesterday and tossing it behind him to her as he went through the gates.

"Trade village in the north? Why would-" Sakura's voice stopped cold when she actually read through the scroll. "Naruto...it says we're going after Neji..."

"Yep. The Arch-Bastard himself." Naruto replied, with a grin that made the others shudder.

"Er, Naruto." Kiba spoke up, reading the scroll from over his shoulder. "It says that we have to capture him and return him to Konoha - _alive_."

"I know, I know." Was the orange-coated ninja's reply. "But he just has to come back with the psychological and physical ability to answer Ibiki and Anko when they ask him questions. He doesn't really need limbs for that, now does he."

Sakura and Ino exchanged looks, as did Shino and Kiba. Sasuke merely nodded, perfectly understanding, although he himself probably wouldn't do the same for Itachi if there ever came a mission to capture his older brother.

"Let's get moving." Naruto said, voice turning cold before he jumped up and into the tree boughs above. A pause, and the others followed.

– Ten Hours later –

It was a while after their departure from Konoha, and truth be told, the five ninja of the NRT were tiring, mostly due to the relentless pace Naruto set.

"Naruto!" Ino shouted. He didn't respond.

"Hoy! Bastard!" Kiba tried. No response. Finally, Shino darted forward, landing next to Naruto on the next bough he landed on, and laid a hand on his old friend's shoulder.

"Naruto." Shino started. "We cannot continue at this pace. None of us have your stamina, and if we arrive at our destination at this rate, the rest of us will be too tired and drained to aid you, and will in fact more likely be hindrances. I have no doubt that you could take on a dozen ninja, even with this draining pace, but it would be better to have us rested and able to aid you in case of any complications." Naruto stood still. "Kiba and I understand how you feel. Hinata was our team-mate, and we would like nothing more than to see him dead. But we won't be able to see that happen if we arrive tired and unable to help you capture him properly."

Naruto stood still, until he sighed and nodded. "I understand, I just..." He trailed off, looking into the distance, before sighing again. "Thanks for stopping me Shino. I think there's a clearing up ahead that-" Then his eyes widened, and he shoved Shino off of the branch, just as a flash of white darted for him, going through the space Shino inhabited just seconds ago, and exploded.

"HA! See that Juugo? One shot and he's down for the count, yeah!" A voice crowed, before its source appeared, a blond man appearing out of a body flicker technique on a branch several meters away from the other Konoha-nin.

"Deidara! Pain-dono wanted us to capture the Nine-Tails jinchūriki, not blow it apart!" A man, well, more like a boy, appeared next to the blond, making to hit him. The blond deftly ducked under the swing, jumping off to another branch.

"Chill freak! He's a jinchūriki, yeah! Sad to say, I doubt one of those small C1 bombs I hit him with would be enough to take him out permanently! It's a pity we have to capture him though, I'd have liked to discuss art with him-" And then, a small red bird swooped out of the sky, fluttered its wings and landed on Deidara's shoulder. The blond Akatsuki member glanced at once curiously before turning away - and then jerked his head back around and looked at it again.

It was covered in black seal markings.

"Ooh, he's a clever boy, yeah."

Then Deidara exploded.

"Deidara!" Juugo cried, as the explosion knocked him aside. As he fell, Naruto appeared on the forest floor, swinging a punch that landed and shot the orange-haired boy away and into a tree trunk.

"Wha-what was that!" Ino shouted, jumping down from her branch and followed closely by the others.

"Akatsuki." Naruto replied grimly. "You guys should get out of here, I-"

"The hell do you mean we should get out of here?" Kiba demanded. "If you can take these punks-"

"Kiba." Naruto growled. "These are S-Class Missing-nin. _S-Class. _And they're after me, not any of you. You've gotta get back to Konoha and get help."

"I'm afraid we can't allow that Naruto-kun." The cool, calm voice elicited extreme reactions in two of the group. Naruto immediately closed his eyes and turned his head towards his feet, while Sasuke's eyes widened and his face twisted into a grimace, as he swung his head about to glare at the source, Sharingan blazing in his eyes.

"ITACHI!" The youngest surviving Uchiha roared, as his elder brother stepped out of the shadows of the trees.

"Fuck, it's Itachi." Naruto muttered. "This whole thing was a trap wasn't it?" His eyes, the Konoha-nin were startled to see, were orange with slitted pupils, and his voice was emotionless and calculating.

"How smart you are to discern that." Itachi said tonelessly, before turning his whole attention to his brother. "Sasuke. Do you hate me?"

"With fervor." The younger Uchiha snarled, his hands twitching with the desire to kill.

"Good." Itachi's eyes narrowed. "Harness it."

"My, my, Itachi-san, I thought you killed your clan." The voice drifted out, as a blue-skinned man with the features of a shark appeared next to Itachi. "Who's this?"

"My little brother." Itachi responded cooly. "Don't bother with him. Naruto-kun is our objective, go capture him while I deal with the rest, Kisame."

"Ah, it might be a little late for that." Kisame said, pointing past Naruto.

"For Pain-dono!" Juugo roared, his mutated form shuddering in its transformation that turned the formerly mild boy into a bloodthirsty grey-skinned beast. A scream, mixed of joy and rage, tore itself from the transformed boy, and he charged at Naruto.

The orange-coated shinobi didn't move or dodge, and instead matched the punch thrown at him. A thunderous crack filled the air, and the two leaped aside, Naruto cradling his arm as Juugo howled.

"You have monstrous strength." The scorpion's disciple coldly noted, his slitted eyes flitting from Juugo to his broken arm. "Strength I can't match as I am now, although I bet Tsunade with her better chakra control could do it." He grunted, snapping his broken ulna and radius into their proper positions and let the bones flow back together, just as strong as before. "I suppose I'll have to use _it._"

Deep inside the seal, Kurama's grin stretched wider.

Naruto unbuckled his belt and unzipped his coat, letting both drift apart as he took his arms out of the sleeves, and let the whole garment flap behind him like a cape.

For a brief instant, Akatsuki and Konoha-nin alike saw the physique normal to a teenage ninja that worked out regularly, nothing special.

"Dead Bone Art: Armor of Yomi." Naruto growled out, preparing himself for pain.

(**A/N**: I'm not normally one to interrupt in the middle of a chapter, but I had to say: Go to youtube, search 'sengoku basara the last party: nobunaga revived anime theme ' and click the first video that shows up)

Then the spikes of bone tore themselves from his flesh, emerging from the spinal column, the clavicle, the ribs, the humerus, femur, from what seemed to be each and every bone in the human body. And then they shifted, melted, _merged_ together, forming into plates, into gauntlets and greaves and pauldrons. From Naruto's skull erupted horns that molded around his hitai-ate to form a happuri, armor that covered both forehead and cheeks, even as bones that tore from his mandible formed a skeletal fanged mask around the rest of his face. The only visible element of his head left was the eyes. Eyes that burned now, with the Nine-Tail's bloody red chakra.

One hand, encased in a taloned gauntlet of bone, reached down to his side. From his body erupted a hilt, and he grasped it and pulled, unsheathing a wide, straight-bladed sword that curved to a point near the end.

"K-kaguya!" Juugo, stunned, stuttered out, his cursed form receding somewhat. "Like Kimimaro?"

**"Oh?" **The deep, guttural voice that emerged from the armored figure that stood in the center of the halted battle was little like Naruto's. **"You knew the Kaguya I killed to get this ability? Such a coincidence."** Juugo's face twisted, snarled and his form returned to its previous state, changing even more as his arms became pistons topped by enormous bony fists.

**"I'LL MURDER YOU!" **He roared, leaping forth with a single bound, one fist leading and lashing out atop its piston - only to be intercepted by Naruto's coat, now glowing red as a shapeless mass with the Nine-Tail's chakra coursing through it. Unperturbed, Juugo's other fist lanced forth, intent on shattering the ribs of the one who slew his friend.

Naruto's gauntlet caught that fist, stopping it in its tracks just as easily as anyone would catch a normal fist.

Juugo's face, shocked even through his madness and battlerage, became even more so when the bone-sword sliced across his midsection, catching on his ribs and tossing aside the curse-formed boy a dozen meters.

**"Don't think brute strength will help you anymore!"** Naruto shouted, Kurama's bloodlust leaking out into his voice and giving it an even more frightening sound. **"This armor helps my strength-enhancement technique! Tsunade herself couldn't overpower me like this!"**

The only response from Juugo was a guttural howl as Pain's devout follower launched himself at Naruto for a third time. As he approached, Naruto lifted his left hand, index and middle fingers pointing together at Juugo for an instant before he spoke.

**"Inferno Release: Kitsunebi!" **Wind-natured blue chakra swirled around the fingers, before a small amount of Kurama's red chakra mixed with it, making the air flash purple for an instant before the mix exploded, sending a thin cone of azure-flamed wind blades out at Juugo. The blades tore through the air, earth, and slammed into the transformed Akatsuki member, throwing him back a meter. **"Man, you really are tough! That technique would have eviscerated anyone else!" **Naruto sort-of praised, before he raised his blade, upon which the legendary blade, Samehada smashed into it.

"Heh, you seem to have gotten better!" Kisame chuckled. Then he frowned, when Samehada shivered unpleasantly, and leaped back as Naruto's cloak snapped at him, lashing out under the influence of Kurama's chakra. "Whoa! What's up with your chakra? Samehada doesn't like it at all!"

**"And what makes you think I'll tell you? Tail-Wind!"** Naruto roared, whipping his cloak around with force enough to generate a powerful, chakra-laced gust of wind that blew into the Kiri missing-nin, forcing him to interpose Samehada and dig his heels into the dirt.

"Itachi-san!"

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!" Itachi called out, exhaling a frankly huge ball of flame that flew right for the bone-armored jinchūriki. The fireball engulfed him, exploding in heat and flames.

"NARUTO!" Sakura and Ino screamed, while the others of the team were shell-shocked into immobility.

_Damn it Itachi!_ Sasuke snarled. _Not again! _Then the flaming ground where Naruto stood blew apart, the red chakra-engulfed cloak fluttering back as its master, pointedly not looking at the traitorous Uchiha, gestured at him with the same two fingers he'd pointed at Juugo with.

**"Kitsunebi Barrage!" **There were multiple, rapid explosions, each firing off its own number of weaker flaming blue wind blades in a more concentrated cone at Itachi. The Akatsuki member was already moving, and the slicing, burning blades missed him each time by literally centimeters.

Then the earth erupted out in front of him, a cloud of insects swarming from the hole to engulf him.

"Sasuke!" Shino called, "Get him now!" Sasuke started, before snarling and flashing through hand-seals.

"Chidori!" The chunin roared, racing forth to stab his older brother with the lightning technique. Kisame, seeing the death coming for Itachi, moved to intercept Sasuke.

**"And where do you think _you're _going!"** The bone-forged sword slashed for Kisame's face, and the shark-like man had to stop and block with Samehada.

And thus, Kisame could do nothing but watch as Sasuke plunged his lightning-encased hand into the cloud of insects covering his brother. The swarm dissolved, returning to Shino and revealing a wide-eyed Itachi...right before he tore apart into a murder of cawing crows.

"Damn! Genjutsu!" Sasuke snarled, his Sharingan eyes darting about in search for his brother.

Back with Kisame and Naruto, the former grinned and drew his blade back to swing at Naruto. The blades clashed, and then broke apart as each of their wielders swung at the other again, Kisame forced to resort to a two-handed grip under the strength of the armored Naruto's blows.

"Damn, you're strong!" Kisame growled, his eyes glinting with glee as their two blades clashed again.

**"Of course." **Naruto growled. **"With me and Kurama working together like this...we can match you perfectly, Tailless Beast!" **

"So you know my nickname! I guess I shouldn't be surprised, eh, One-Man Orange Platoon? Speaking of which, where are those puppets that got you that name eh?" Kisame chuckled, battering Samehada against Naruto's curved sword again.

**"I don't need them when I'm like this!" **Naruto answered, slamming his blade down on Samehada again, before jabbing forth at Kisame with two fingers. **"Grand**** Kitsunebi!" **Kisame's eyes widened briefly before the technique's explosion and wind-blades threw him back, Akatsuki cloak aflame. It took some patting and a D-Class water technique, but the flames were easily put out, leaving the missing-nin with a torn, burnt wound on his torso.**  
><strong>

"Eh, I've had worse." He shrugged, taking Samehada in both hands again and facing Naruto.

Just then though, a flock of white clay birds flew from the sky, darting right for the bone-armored shinobi. Naruto ignored them, advancing for Kisame, as his red cloak coiled about him, shielding him from the exploding sculptures.

"Hey! Don't think you can just get rid of me like that!" Deidara angrily shouted, dropping down from the trees. "I'm not some unskilled painter to be ignored, yeah!"

**"My apologies Deidara-sempai, let me greet you appropriately." **Naruto said, before his cloak burst, red birds and orange butterflies emerging from it as Kurama used his chakra to trigger the appropriate scrolls, unraveling and unsealing them within the cloak. Over three dozen redbirds and nearly three hundred monarch butterflies flew in the sky above.

In the next instant, several redbirds darted down, homing in on Deidara and detonating in his face.

"Huh, your art's pretty good, yeah." Deidara commented, emerging from the ground after the destruction of his latest clay clone. "But mines better!" He shouted, hands darting into his bags to grab handfuls of clay for the mouths merged into his palms to chew and spit out.

"C2! Dragons!" Deidara announced gleefully, the clay dragon sculptures he produced puffing into smoke and becoming life-size, mobile clay dragons that flew for Naruto. However, before they could go far, an arc of lightning intercepted them.

Sakura and Ino landed in between Naruto and Deidara, the former with hands clasped and ready to speed through seals, while the latter wielded two elongated kunai.

"You'll have to go through us to get to Naruto!" Ino declared, Sakura nodding firmly next to her.

"Psh. Girls like you can't appreciate true art! Get out of my way, yeah!" Deidara huffed. "And, I think you'll be busy with something else," he added, stepping aside.

**"For Pain-dono!" **Juugo roared crazily, smashing through two trees and charging for the girls.

To the side, inside the thicker part of the forest, Shino and Sasuke stood face-to-face with Itachi.

This would be a battle to remember.

– The Author –

Well, I figure that's a good stopping point.

You know, when I originally finished last chapter, I had very different plans for this one. First, the battle with Akatsuki would be much shorter, with a smaller team, and end up with Naruto bringing Deidara down and then pretty much eviscerating Juugo as the others desperately tried to survive Itachi and Kisame's onslaught. And then, when they returned to Konoha, Naruto would have been accosted by Kakashi and the other jonin, under charges of poisoning the Hokage. Upon which, Naruto would activate the Armor of Yomi as seen above, slaughter a good four dozen Red Shirt Chunin and Mauve Shirt Jonin, and then leave to merrily start his future plans with Yūgure._**  
><strong>_

However, then I read a Naruto fanfiction (Really good, the title's _Naruto: Wind Monk Banishment, _it's still a bit young like this story, but looks like it's turning out well!) that mentioned in-story that Naruto's pretty much the embodiment of Konoha's history.

After that, I found that I had a taste to take the story in a different direction. Sure, an ultimately minor difference considering my overall plans for the story, but a difference none-the-less. Rather than being split off from Konoha, Naruto would get a special dispensation from the Hokage that allowed him to travel freely for long periods of time, completing both his own objectives and ones that Konoha needed done.

And it just so happened that I had the perfect catalyst to get it done, with the perfect motivation to do so, in Root's leader.

As for the original techniques, Armor of Yomi and (Grand) Kitsunebi (Barrage), I admit I was inspired by another series in their physical design. If the song didn't make it clear (or if you're unfamiliar with the source series) the Armor of Yomi's physical design was chiefly inspired by Oda Nobunaga from Sengoku Basara, and Kitsunebi is inspired by both the 'blue balls of fire' that classical kitsune had and the shotgun Oda wields. The armor, the leitmotif, the sweeping animated cape, all tied into my vision of how Naruto would develop. And especially Nobunaga's motto, 'Tenka Fubu', or 'The world under military rule', according to some translations, 'Unite the Nation under militarism' according to others, which not only match Naruto's current goals, but also Danzō's. It was just too perfect...

Anyway, back to Armor of Yomi, this obviously goes way back to _Scorpion's Disciple, _when Sasori was musing about how Kimimaro's heart would help Naruto, and the original concept was in fact part of Nobody102's original plans for Naruto. The Armor of Yomi has several effects, the most apparent being near-total protection of Naruto, as the bone armor is enhanced with Kurama's chakra to be self-repairing and even stronger than normal Kaguya bones. It also enhances Naruto's strength-improving technique due to the bones providing a better base for absorbing the recoil from Naruto's strength and allowing him to use more chakra for the direct portion.

Kitsunebi was, as stated, born from both classical kitsune legend and the workings of a firearm. It's only usable in Naruto's initial chakra cloak state (red eyes and aura, but no tails, ears or amorphous claws) and above, since it requires Kurama's help to perform. It's basically a combination of nature and shape transformation, Naruto forming a cylinder of wind chakra while Kurama changes his chakra into fire-nature and merges it, eventually producing an explosion that fires out a cone of slicing wind blades that burn with blue fire due to the heat of mixing wind and fire chakra.

Alright, I suppose that's enough exposition. And, since I've been informed that I can't write in other author's names into the story (not sure why, I've been doing it for four years now, but alright...) I guess I'll have to go without Review Replies.

Oh, and for those of you who are fans of my other stories, especially Gundam Seed: Killer's Realm, I've got a poll set up to pick which of three Gundam story concepts I've been agonizing over to write. Check it out, help out please.

Knightmare Gundam of Ni


End file.
